The 18th edition of POOL – MOVEMENT ART FILM Festival Berlin at DOCK 11 (16–19 October) featured a tribute event to the intermedia icon Phill Niblock and three evenings of nine short dance films by international artists.
Phill Niblock, who passed away in January at the age of 90, was celebrated in this year’s edition of POOL SHINE – NEW YORK TRACES with an evening showcasing six of his short films. Since 2016, Sarah Möller, co-artistic director of POOL, has curated films from New York’s experimental dance and film scenes of the ’60s–’80s under the POOL SHINE banner as a subprogram within POOL’s broader, international focus. This program captures the spirit of an era known for collaborative and interdisciplinary exploration, which Niblock’s work helped define. Artists like Elaine Summers and Yoshiko Chuma have had their works programmed in previous editions and were featured this year as well, with a collaboration by Summers and Niblock titled WALKING DANCE FOR ANY NUMBER (1969) and a workshop with Chuma that delves into the relationship between movement, perception, and the camera, chronicling the cross-pollination of dance, music, and film. POOL SHINE’s presentation of this particular artistic history in New York speaks to Berlin’s own everchanging narrative as an international, interdisciplinary creative hub.
An enduring landmark of Berlin’s independent dance scene, DOCK 11, dressed up to perform as an intimate cinema for the festival, is infused with creative legacies of the past. The echoes of the 1990s, when artistic production flourished after reunification, continue to reverberate here. This context offered a local resonance to Niblock’s work, connecting Berlin’s history of experimental dance with New York’s ‘downtown’ scene. These years in New York, a time of great socio-political strife, were also marked by creative and financial freedom that allowed for innovative artistic undertakings. Niblock’s work embodies a simplicity and depth of process that reflects the non-commercial ethos of this era, free from the market-driven pressures that define much of today’s art world. These forces pose paradoxical contradictions when approaching archives such as Niblock’s in contemporary contexts.
Terrace of Unintelligibility (1988), a stirring collaboration between Niblock and musician Arthur Russell, deeply moved me. The 20-minute film lingers on a close-up of Russell’s mouth, travelling down his cello to his percussive, bow-wielding hand and back to his lips, as he sings Answers Me silhouetted in front of oscillating colours refracted through a mylar backdrop. The simplicity of the frame allows the haunting quality of Russell’s voice and Niblock’s filming to meld together, leaving a lasting impression of both of the late artists’ compelling presences and enduring impacts on artistic communities and practices.
Still aus Terrace of Unintelligibility (1985) von Phill Niblock mit Arthur Russell
I chatted with my friend Carmen Sibha-Keiso, who worked closely as an assistant to Niblock and his partner Katherine Liberovskaya (also a prolific intermedia artist who collaborated with Niblock for the last 20 years), sorting Niblock’s archive during the final years of his life. Carmen discussed the challenge of managing an intermedia archive that includes physical ephemera like reels, tapes, projectors, and a vast array of digital files. “An interesting dilemma has been finding appropriate allocation for Niblock’s work, whether to separate the archive by medium or demand or leave it as a whole unit. This is a particularly interesting position when considering Niblock’s earlier works that may have higher institutional demand due to their recognisable subjects: Duke Ellington, The Merce Cunningham Company, Sun Ra, Arthur Russell, and Hannah Weiner, in conjunction with his more domestic or experimental works.”
For Niblock, art was an exchange rather than a commodity. “Niblock simply wanted his work to be well circulated, without much fuss regarding how exactly it was distributed,” Carmen explained. “He mostly cared about retaining the video and sound quality, keeping the work true to its original compositional conditions.” Such a philosophy, Carmen suggests, is becoming more difficult to sustain through the changing art and housing markets as spaces become increasingly inaccessible.
Reflecting on this evolving context, Carmen shared her view of New York’s artistic landscape over the decades. Affordable spaces and a close-knit community downtown once held together the city’s creative core. Continually rising real estate costs have made it difficult for experimental artists to sustain their work, particularly as they age. For Carmen, archiving Niblock’s work meant preserving his creative legacy and recognising the socio-economic shifts threatening such cultural communities’ survival. “Real estate inflation has made housing precarious for Katherine since Phill’s passing. Experimental communities also foster their legacy through mutual aid, which can be considered as a form of free labour, social labour—things that naturally become harder to sustain in neoliberal contexts. Age and disability also factor into that struggle.”
This fusion of place, time, and practice makes Niblock’s work enduring and resonant in today’s dynamic and complex world. His films live on through initiatives like POOL SHINE and the ongoing artistic work of Liberovskaya, who told us in a post-screening talk at the festival about continuing to work on and present their collaborations after his death.
POOL SHINE invited contemplation of the supportive structures needed to foster artistic experimentation. Niblock’s community reverberated in the theatre, merging different histories and figures. It was a reminder that openness, collaboration, and resistance to market pressures in the fragile ecosystems that nourish our work are as essential today as they were in past epochs.
POOL – MOVEMENT ART FILM Festival Berlin 2024 took place from 16-19 October 2024 at DOCK11.
