George Barber

DUDE DOWN

UK, 2016, 17’

DUDE DOWN
A poetic ‘essay film’ that brings new perspectives on the problems of IEDs. DUDE DOWN is an artistic response to IEDs. News has its function in society but the approach of the film draws a more complex poetic reality. The work attempts to go beyond the news and to hint at the complexity behind IEDs and the true impact they have on societies that have to live with them. The central character in DUDE DOWN is actually an IED, allowing viewers to imagine the situation in an original way. ‘Progress’ is very paradoxical; one group of talented scientists and engineers spend their lives making weapons more vicious, whilst another group try to mitigate their effects. Also, War has generally always speeded up progress. The work contains many real film tests allowed by Imperial to be incorporated into Dude Down.The piece subtly gets across the emotional and physical cost of IEDs to a wider public. The film was well received at the LONDON FILM FESTIVAL.

George Barber
A  well-established moving-image artist. His works have been shown at many international festivals, competitions, galleries, been broadcast on television throughout the world and awarded major prizes.  Last year, he had three solo shows: Young Projects Los Angeles, Waterside Contemporary, London, and Chapter Arts, Cardiff. He had a film showing at the London Film Festival this year, ‘Dude Down’ and ‘Akula Dream’ showed in last year’s festival as well as at Oberhausen.  He has had work shown at Kate Macgarry Gallery, The Whitechapel Gallery, Split Film Festival, Croatia, BFI Southbank, Royal Academy, Tate Britain, and Victoria & Albert Museum.  He has also had retrospectives at the ICA, and Dundee Contemporary Arts