Close-up: Vivienne Dick

Bozar invites the Irish filmmaker and artist Vivienne Dick to present a programme dedicated to her work. Through her films, she explores urban life, gender politics, migration, and the history of ideas.  

Born in Donegal in 1950, she is a key figure of the No Wave movement, the avant-garde scene that emerged in late 1970s New York, alongside artists such as Nan Goldin, Lydia Lunch, Arto Lindsay, James Chance and many others. She began working in film upon arriving in New York in 1975, training at the Millenium Film Workshop and making her first Super 8 films. After returning to London and then Ireland, she developed a practice combining video, landscape and exile, while continuing to film her contemporaries. 

Throughout her career, she has developed a deeply original practice. Her work has been presented in numerous international institutions and festivals, including Tate Modern, the Crawford Art Gallery, The Jeu de Paume, the Centre Pompidou and the BFI in London. The programme opens with her latest feature film, New York Our Time (2022), followed by a selection of films and discussions exploring her journeys between New York, London and Ireland. 

The conversations with the filmmaker are moderated by Dr Isobel Harbison. An Irish art historian and Senior Lecturer at Goldsmiths (University of London), Harbison writes regularly on art, film and culture. Her forthcoming book, Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas, explores a world-famous sign and the woman who designed it. She is currently developing an oral history and archive of art and film produced during the conflict in Northern Ireland, in collaboration with the Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA) and the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI).

This Close-up is presented within the framework of the Irish Presidency of the Council of the European Union.