George Clark – Double Ghosts (2018)

‘Double Ghosts / 雙影’ explores the status and potential of unrealised and fragmented histories from the legacy of Chilean filmmaker Raúl Ruiz (1941 – 2011) to animist cinematic traditions in Taiwan. The project takes as its starting point an unfinished film made by Raúl Ruiz in Taiwan in 1995. Based in Paris since the late 1970s, Ruiz came to Taiwan to film ‘The Comedy of Shadows / La comedie des ombres’ with a script inspired by the Taoist philosophy of Chuang Tzu’s ‘Wandering on the Way’ and Luigi Pirandello’s ‘Six Characters in Search of an Author’. The project was filmed at Chin Pao San cemetery with a Taiwanese cast and crew but never finished.

The incompleteness of Ruiz’s film is the starting point for ‘Double Ghosts’, that considers the echoes of this unrealised project to explore cinematic and political phantoms. Drawing on research and diverse collaborations with filmmakers Valeria Sarmiento and Niles Atallah as well as Chilote fishermen, the film is staged as a series of actions seeking to reactivate this lost film. Filmed on 35mm film in Chile and Taiwan, ‘Double Ghosts’ follows traces across the Pacific from Ruiz’s birthplace in Puerto Montt to the cemetery in Taiwan.

Biography

George Clark (b. 1982) lives and works in London, UK. Clark is an artist, curator and writer.
Bridging curatorial and artistic practice, George Clark’s work explores the history of images and how they are governed by culture, technology and social political conditions. His work has been shown at festivals and museums internationally. His multi-part project Double Ghosts held its premiere at Chin Pao San cemetery in Taiwan as part of his project for the 2018 Taiwan Biennial. His feature film A Distant Echo premiered in the official selection at the 20th Jihlava IDFF as part of the Opus Bonum competition. Shot on 35mm film in various Californian deserts, the film explores themes of identity, culture and the construction of history in collaboration with musician Tom Challenger.  Over the last decade he has built transnational projects exploring new modes of exchange, collaboration and dialogue. In 2018 he co-founded the West Java West Yorkshire Cooperative Movement with Ismal Muntaha, Bunga Saigian and Will Rose a collaborative project with the Jatiwangi art Factory, Indonesia and Pavilion, UK. This ongoing project has supported new projects with over 20 artists and numerous communities across both regions. The collaboration builds on his exhibition Living Archive (Jatiwangi Art Factory, 2017; Yunseul Museum, 2018), made with over 30 community curators and the collaborative film Jatiwangi (2018).