Sarah Vanagt “Little Figures”
Shedhalle / Exhibitions / Cross-fades / Artists
Sarah Vanagt “Little Figures.”, 2003 (filmstill)
Little Figures
Experimental film, 15.47 min, 2003
The Mont des Arts in the centre of Brussels is a part of the city boasting the most important museums with the most important Belgian treasures of art, lined by representative buildings and the statues of national heros, a place where the national culture is staged – sometimes generously financed by revenues from the former colonies. Today, kids with family roots in Africa or South East Asia are skateboarding beneath the stone feet of monuments of heros like Godefroy de Bouillon, 11th century crusader, or Albert I, King of Belgium from 1909 to 1934 and his wife Elisabeth.
Sarah Vanagt takes the Monts des Arts as a site for giving film lessons in history. She develops a fictitious dialogue of three statues using the voices of three children with migration background. The thus revived statues mingle their memories of the history of Belgian conquests and colonies with the standing the statues have today. Today, hardly anybody takes notice of them, these conquerors and kings seemingly have become “Little Figures” in spite of their superhuman dimensions. “Little Figures” contrast impressively the importance of history and national culture, and their new standing in our times. Vanagt, who studied history and film in Belgium and England, dedicates her efforts to a collective narration of history, be in Central Africa stricken by colonial times or be it right in front of her house. Her new documentary film “Boulevard d’Ypres” links the history of the Boulevard d’Ypres, which is named after a famous battle in WW I, with the world history as viewed by the vendors who live there today. (Screening: November 12, 2010)