The Idealist and The Contrarian

Exhibition Text: The Idealist and The Contrarian, is a series of ten films made in collaboration between Matthew Burdis and Jon Baker. The films were made to the following rules. 1. All films will be 16mm colour, silent and 3 minutes in length. 2. When one artist has completed a film reel it must be passed on to the other artist who will film onto the same reel – creating a double exposure. 3. There will be no discussion between artists regarding subject matter or content. “The rules, set by ourselves as well as the limitations of the medium, created a mutual way of working together that was important due to the lack of communication between us. Having both created a double exposed film collaboratively, yet separately, we would watch the finished film alone. Each film responds to the previous film in the series, creating a visual dialogue between us both: at times pre-empting each other’s decisions, mirroring previous endeavours and occasionally destroying current ones.” This work was supported by the Elephant Trust and was influenced by the artist Sigmar Polke’s 16mm films shown at Tate Modern in 2014.