Vicki Thornton

The Remembered Film

The Remembered Film - film still
The Remembered Film - film still
The Remembered Film - film still
The Remembered Film - film still
The Remembered Film

The Remembered Film, 2013
Super 16mm film transferred to HD video
24 minutes 43 seconds

“[Stories] can be made up of tatters, of fragments,
as unbalanced as the lives we lead.”
Michelangelo Antonioni

The first time I visited Château de Sacy it struck me how much it felt like a ready-made film set, a film set that combined all the fragments of my own cinematic memory: the remembered moments from French New Wave films I had scrutinised as a student, the scenes I had visualised when reading the novels of Alain Robbe-Grillet, and the poetic images I had experienced in the films of Maya Deren.

Set against a backdrop of sun-bleached wallpaper, stuffed animals, musical instruments and antique mirrors, this intimate film follows our female protagonist as she assumes characters from films by Alain Resnais, Marguerite Duras, and Chantal Akerman, with the camera movements and mise-en-scène emulating that of the original films.

However, fact and fiction are blurred as our lead’s own performances and daily life begin to intertwine with these re-enactments: in one scene she might be recreating a sequence from Duras’ ‘India Song’; the next peeling tomatoes or mowing the lawn.

Making a film for me is the act of reassembling fragments. Working with 16mm film, I am constantly required to ‘see’ these images in advance of their capture, anticipate light, movement and gesture and gather snippets of sound and image that may or may not end up in the final film. Film is inherently silent and it is only by the application of dialogue, music and sound effects that the puzzle is finally complete.

Vicki Thornton

Previous Work

Work from “The Relics” series

Work from “The Relics” series, 2012
Silver Gelatin Print; dimensions variable

A fragment of a mirror is still a mirror

“A fragment of a mirror is still a mirror”, 2012
C-type Lambda print; 12.7 x 17.8cm

Film still from “The Centre and the Circumference”

Film still from
“The Centre and the Circumference”, 2011
16mm film with optical sound; 6m 40s

Film stills from “Everything which we call nature…”

Film stills from “Everything which we call nature…”, 2008
16mm film (silent); 2m 30s

Vicki Thornton Born in Derby in 1981. Lives and works in London. Web www.vickithornton.com Exhibitions & Screenings
2013

The Remembered Film

, Château de Sacy, Picardie, France
2012
Aesthetica Short Film Festival, York

One Hundred Foot

, selected by Jim Hobbs, Lo & Behold Gallery, London

OUTPOST Open: Film 2012 Touring Programme

, Wysing Arts Centre, Cambridgeshire; Grand Union, Birmingham; The Minories, Colchester Film Festival; Shortwave Cinema, London; Primary, Nottingham; Outcasting: Fourth Wall, Cardiff; Aid and Abet, Cambridge; Rhubaba, Edinburgh

The Big Screen

, curated by Louise Colbourne, SUPERNORMAL Festival, Ipsden

One Hundred Foot

, selected by Jim Hobbs, The Film Gallery, Latitude Festival, Suffolk

The Big Screen and Film Gallery

, curated by Louise Colbourne (in association with LUX and Cine-city Film Festival), Latitude Festival, Suffolk

OUTPOST Open: Film 2012

, selected by Stuart Croft, OUTPOST Gallery, Norwich

Centrefold 8: The Circle of Manias

, 176 Zabludowicz Collection, London
2011

SHOW BATTERSEA

, Royal College of Art, Sackler Building, London [cat.]

Until here everything is fine

, Hockney Gallery, Royal College of Art, London

MA Photography Work in Progress Show

, Lower Galleries, Royal College of Art, London
2010

Album

, curated by Morgan Quaintance, Liverpool Biennial, Wolstenholme Project Space, Liverpool

Nature is the Church of Satan

, curated by Louise Colbourne, Studio 1.1, London (touring to Whitstable Biennale, Latitude Festival, Suffolk and Open 7 Art Exhibition, London)

MA Photography Work in Progress

, Gulbenkian Gallery, Royal College of Art, London
2009

Just Like That

, curated by Louise Colbourne, Studio 1.1, London

Corrupting the Image

, curated by Karen Mirza & James Holcombe (no.w.here), VIDEOEX, Zurich
2008

AURORA 2008: The Infinite Measure

, curated by Adam Pugh, The Project Space, Norwich [cat.]

CUBE Open

, selected by Juneau Projects, CUBE Centre for the Urban Built Environment, Manchester

Intraveloving

, curated by Tank.tv, CASZuidas Urban Screen, Amsterdam.

The Urban Tendency

, curated by Ken Pratt/ Centrifugal Projects, Ambika P3, London

All That Remains

, curated by Guillaume Breton, Galerie Schirman et De Beaucé, Paris [cat.]

Besame Mucho Mas

, Chat’s Palace, London
2007

All That Remains

, curated by Guillaume Breton and Thomas Lock, Auto Italia, London [cat.] Zoo Art Fair (SEVENTEEN stand), Royal Academy, London

Espacio Majestic

, Espacio Majestic Y La Puerta Azul, Seville

Conflux Festival

, Brooklyn, New York

Noh Interior

, curated by Adrian Hermanides, Durban Art Museum, South Africa

Intraveloving

, curated by Laure Prouvost, Tank.tv, London

CutUp: New Works

, Hackney Wick, London

Play: Experience the Adventure of Our Cities

, Urbis Centre for Urban Art, Manchester

What is It?

, curated by i-cabin, Wysing Arts Centre, Cambridge
2006

Out of the Ruins of the Real

, SEVENTEEN, London [cat.]

Stealth

, Kulturhuset Mazetti, Malmö, Sweden

Satellites

, curated by i-cabin, Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York

La Vida Te Espera

, NIU Gallery, Barcelona

Art in the Office: New Acquisitions

, Arts Council England, London

Open-Mic

, curated by Mark McGowan, Peckham, London
2005

CutUp Machine

, SEVENTEEN, London

CutUp Show

, Kemistry Gallery, London South London Gallery Video Lounge, South London Gallery, London
2004

Advent

, curated by Jim Woodall, Trinity Buoy Wharf, London

The Majorette-Rospective

, 291 Gallery, London

Illuminations

, Redgate Gallery, London
2003

Sound Of The Suburbs

, Woodlands Art Gallery, London [cat.]
2002
Pelican House, London [cat.] Awards & Residencies
2012
Ateliers d’Artistes de Sacy Residency, Château de Sacy, Picardie, France VISIO - European Workshop on Artists’ Cinema Residency, Lo Schermo dell’Arte Film Festival, Florence
2011
Winner of the Painter Stainers’ Company Prize for Photography
2008
Nominated for the Paul Hamlyn Foundation Award for Visual Artists Selected Press & Publications
2011
Davies-Crook, Susanna.

RCA: Battersea Show 2011

(Dazed Digital online) Blees Luxembourg, Rut (Ed.).

Hardcover: Image Perspectives

(London: Black Dog Publishing)
2010
Burns, Stuart Ian.

Liverpool Biennial 2010: Album at Wolstenholme Project Space, Feeling Listless

2008
Pugh, Adam (Ed.).

Aurora 2008: The Infinite Measure

(Norwich: Aurora) Unknown,

All That Remains Exhibition

(Paris: Wallpaper* magazine)
2007
Henderson, Louis.

All That Remains

(Paris: Galerie Schirman et de Beaucé) Teaching & Professional Experience
2012 –
Series Coordinator: ‘The Network’ Professional Practice series, RCA Moving Image Studio
2012 –
Technical Support Tutor: SHOW RCA, Royal College of Art Photography Department
2011 –
Studio Coordinator, Isaac Julien Studio, London
2010 – 2011
Studio Assistant, Reza Aramesh, London
2007 – 2009
Studio Manager, Chris Ofili Studio, London
2005 – 2007
Fabrication Coordinator, White Cube, London
2002 – 2005
Studio Assistant, Angus Fairhurst, London Education
2009 – 2011
Royal College of Art, London (MA Photography)
2000 – 2003
Camberwell College of Arts, London (BA Hons. Visual Arts: Sculpture)