Mariam Nihal

Saudi Gazette

David Gryn is the founder and director of Artprojx, screening, curating, promoting and lecturing on artists’ moving image and other art projects, working with leading contemporary artists, art galleries, museums, art fairs, art schools and charities worldwide. He is also the curator of Art Basel in Miami Beach’s Film Sector.



In an exclusive interview with Saudi Gazette, Gryn speaks to the Middle East audience about film and arts explaining the challenges and where we are headed.  



“This year’s Film at Art Basel in Miami Beach had an underlying vision of ‘playfulness’, the playfulness of internet gaming, online action, art making, dance and performing, color, sound and music.



This was conceived to encourage galleries to consider submitting artists moving image works that were engaging, and also to consider the audience in Miami during an art fair, that will want to sit and watch artists’ films that are enthralling, exciting, thought provoking and entertaining.



The challenge is to encourage the majority of galleries to think about artists moving image during an art fair that will attract an audience during a week of many competitive events.



My other challenge is to encourage galleries to think about artists who are statistically underrepresented by them, to think egalitarian and have a global perspective.”



Gryn was approached by Art Basel five years ago, to help nurture an area that needed improvement.



“Art Basel recognized the need for the support of artists mediums that do not all have immediate commercial attributes, which often get overlooked by us all during the hustle and bustle of preparing for and being at art fairs.



If we treat film, performance and sound as important and valued mediums in our art world, they will become big and more valued; it is an obvious logic, but one, which we all need reminding of, and one, which needs our constant attention.”



Film at ABMB provides the art fair a platform to show works by artists that do not get seen too often at international art fairs.



Gryn ensured this platform enables the general public to see durational works for free, and be part of the citywide art experience and understanding.



“We show work on the 7000 sq ft screening wall of the Frank Gehry designed New World Center, with a powerful 35k lumen projector and room in SoundScape Park for over 1000 people to see each of this year’s eight screening programs.



We also introduced the Art Basel Film Library inside the fair this year, which gave fair goers a chance to interrogate and personally view all the films that were selected for the fair.”



Gryn enjoys the whole process of working with the galleries and their artists. “This year we introduced sound to play on the amazing 160 speakers, purpose built surround sound system in SoundScape Park working with Raed Yassin, Jennie C. Jones, Larry Achiampong and Stephen Vitiello. Some artists such as Hayal Pozanti, Parker Ito, Charles Richardson completed edited works specifically for the program.



I also collaborated with Tabor Robak on the program The Digital Revolutionaries including his work, Jon Rafman, Oliver Laric and a tribute to Harun Farocki. Saya Woolfalk, Dara Friedman, Marcel Dzama, Charles Atlas, Marnie Weber, Takeshi Murata, Rachel Rose were works by other selected artists that resonated with me.”



The artists’ vision and belief in their aesthetic truth play the biggest roles in developing art and design.



According to Gryn, the art fair and galleries only exist because of artists and “we need to keep remembering that our role is to support their vision and enable these arenas to be platforms for their voices and how they can inspire, inform, enchant us in every way.”



Speaking about the rapid development of film and video during the course of the last decade, he admitted technology has been the main driving factor.



“Over the last 10 years technology has exponentially been enhanced, this has enabled more and more artists to consider film and video and digital platforms as other powerful mediums to use for their work.



Several well-known artists such as Steve McQueen and Sam Taylor-Wood have gained notoriety and are celebrated for their feature films that have engaged with Hollywood and the Film industry.



Therefore this aspect of an artist’s career, that starts with artists experimenting with film and video to make art works has a grand vision for many artists and making feature films is a possible natural output of being an artist.



We are also firmly part of a digital, online world and the impact of that on an artist’s work and their career is ever evolving and improving.”



Gryn planned a talk with Chrissie Iles, curator at the Whitney Museum, artist Tabor Robak and Rachel Rose - titled Playfulness: artists as online gamers, surfers and armchair digital revolutionaries to represent the status quo.



“To show where we are currently finding ourselves in artists practice and in showing this art medium too.”