Arta
@_rtab_
A dream of many years has come true: I had a hand in curating this programme on Serge Daney for the ICA, in conjunction with the dossier we produced on SD with @Sabzianbe
Serge Daney (1944–1992), called "the end of criticism" by Godard, remains a towering voice in film thought. In partnership with Sabzian journal, we present 12 films reflecting his cinephilic, internationalist vision. 📅 27 Aug – 7 Sep 🎟️ Films & tickets: rb.gy/27ekh1
"Such was the beauty of La maman et la putain, Adieu Philippine, Faces, and even of recent films like Van Gogh and J’entends plus la guitare: that they still managed to show life — that is, strictly speaking, death at work". sabzian.be/text/cinema-li…
“Finally back home, Serge Daney would share his stories — for he never hid the fact that travelling also served as a way to construct around himself the myth, as enigmatic as it was flattering, of the ‘Stevensonian wanderer’.” – Emmanuel Burdeau sabzian.be/text/the-map-a…
“As his move to Libération neared, Serge Daney took to probing the general state of the cinema, presciently aware of the metamorphosis it was experiencing at the dawn of the 1980s. Filmed cinema seemed to haunt the art form.” - Daniel Fairfax sabzian.be/text/the-fever…
“It was by inviting us to compare Le grand bleu [The Big Blue] and Palombella rossa [Red Wood Pigeon] that Serge Daney concluded his 1980s — a decade lived between cinema and television, between the ‘image’ and the ‘visual’.” – @flux_de_merde → sabzian.be/text/the-blue-…
Bonus! Bonus! Bonus! A collection of essays, interviews, and translations assembled on Sabzian, reflecting on Daney’s writing and influence: 'Serge Daney and the Promise of Cinema' sabzian.be/issue/serge-da…
Great series of screenings and discussions hosted by @ICALondon upcoming 29 Aug - 7 Sep, exploring Serge Daney’s cinematic thinking through film ... ica.art/serge-daney
“As a critic of a time now lost, Serge Daney’s texts situated us in the role of the spectator – which in turn is also the role of the critic – who exists in two ways: ‘as an inert body among others and as a vivid gaze between shots’.” – @criticademonica sabzian.be/text/about-the…
“For Daney, the cinema wasn’t just a matter of images, but primarily of time. ‘If, for someone like me, the first thing was time and the second the image’, he ‘today it’s the opposite: the image comes first.’” – Mohammad Reza Amiri sabzian.be/text/a-melanch…
“Translating is always listening, scanning for cadence, texture, influence, weight; the myth of the father is a reminder that Daney listened first.” – Christine Pichini on translating Serge Daney’s work to English sabzian.be/text/close-lis…
“Cinema is a promise to be one day a citizen of the world.” – Serge Daney Read the introduction to our new issue on Daney’s cinephilic internationalism, by @rtab and @gerardfranz sabzian.be/text/a-citizen…
Excerpt from our Introduction to ‘Serge Daney and the Promise of Cinema’
“Cinema is a promise to be one day a citizen of the world.” – Serge Daney Read the introduction to our new issue on Daney’s cinephilic internationalism, by @rtab and @gerardfranz sabzian.be/text/a-citizen…
“Serge Daney advanced smoothly, at varying but always exhilarating speeds. [...] Each of his texts offers all the spectacle of a satisfying chess game.” – Pierre Eugène sabzian.be/text/turns
Favorite first-time viewings of June 2025: Near Orouët (1971) Love Affair(s) (2020) The Hitch-Hiker (1953) Slightly Scarlet (1956) Sabotage (1936) I'm not including the Bologna discoveries, since I did a separate list for those.
If I'd done the NYT top 10 of the 21st century, it would probably have looked something like this
This issue was compiled by Arta Barzanji (@_rtab_) and Gerard-Jan Claes (@gerardfranz), and appears in conjunction with an eponymous film programma at @ICALondon, starting at the end of August! → ica.art/serge-daney
A Citizen of the World: Serge Daney and the Promise of Cinema sabzian.be/text/a-citizen…
Serge Daney and the Promise of Cinema sabzian.be/issue/serge-da…