Exhibitions and Events
film still from Russian Ark, Alexander Sokurov, 2002.
Russian Ark
Alexander Sokurov, Russian Federation, 2002, 96 minutes.
A bravura single-shot tour of the great Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russian Ark examines the art, culture, and history of Russia after the collapse of the Soviet Union through the glass of the Tsarist Empire which preceded it.
Installation view from the exhibition Arthur Lismer and 'The Drama of the City'
Arthur Lismer and the 1917 Explosion:
When War Came to Halifax
The Dalhousie Art Gallery is pleased to present a talk by Alan Ruffman in conjunction with the exhibition Arthur Lismer and 'The Drama of a City'. In this talk, Ruffman will review Arthur Lismer's time in Halifax, and his generally unknown body of work on the 1917 Explosion.
More about the exhibition:
film still from Leviathan, Andrey Zvyagintsev, 2014.
Leviathan
Andrey Zvyagintsev, Russia, 2014, 142 minutes.
A man’s land is to be confiscated by a corrupt mayor in a town near Murmansk, in northeastern Russia. The protagonist’s struggle to save his home and family evolves into a battle against targeted expropriation and government corruption in this contemporary retelling of the story of Job from the Bible.
film still from The Mirror, Andrei Tarkovsky, 1974.
The Mirror
Andrei Tarkovsky, Soviet Union, 1974, 104 minutes.
The Russian filmmaker’s most personal and opaque film is mostly about the fluidity of memory and identity, recalling a childhood and adolescence under the excesses of Stalinism. Acclaimed by British author Will Self as “the most beautiful film ever made”, The Mirror is dense, fascinating, and ultimately utterly illuminating.
film still from The Commissar, Aleksandr Askoldov, 1967.
The Commissar
Aleksandr Askoldov, USSR, 1967, 100 minutes.
Shot to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Revolution, this Russian Civil War (1918-1922) drama sees a pregnant female cavalry commissar billetted with a reluctant Jewish family; they bond as the front line comes closer and closer. The soundtrack includes music by the great Russian composer Alfred Schnittke.
Walking the Debris Field: A Natural History, December 6, 2015. Architectural Model of the Richmond School on Roome Street destroyed in the Halifax Explosion. Photograph by Robert Bean.
The Halifax Explosion
The Halifax Explosion occurred on the morning of 6 December 1917 as the result of a collision between the SS Mont-Blanc, a French cargo ship laden with high explosives, and the SS Imo, a Norwegian relief vessel. The two ships collided in the Narrows, a strait connecting upper Halifax Harbour to the Bedford Basin, and the resulting fire on board the Mont-Blanc ignited her cargo. The ensuing explosion devastated the Richmond district of Halifax as well as the opposite shore of Dartmouth.
