First British showing of Luke Fowler's films at Serpentine

Winner of the Jarman Award 2008 for filmakers and having gained international success it's now time for the Glaswegian to showcase in Britain at the Serpentine until the 14th June. The Jarman Award recognises filmakers who move outside of the filmaking box, pushing boundaries and refreshing perception, Fowler has been compared by critics to the 50s New Wave of British filmakers who broke the mould with their kitchen-sink realism and gritty filming, idealism flushed down the toilet.Fowler produced four 3 minute wonders for Channel Four which involved taking 'everyday life' as a subject. He documents flat tenants, Anna, Helen, David and Lester, in the Victorian house Fowler he used to live in in the West End of Glasgow, some being his neighbours whom he never met previously. Fowler claims he's interested mostly in the relationships of people and between them but approaches filming in his own unconventional way. He takes his work one step further when he moves from everyday subject-matter to individuals who too break with convention in their lives, biographies of unconvention represented unconventionally.For example their is Pilgrimage From Scattered Points, 2006, which covers Cornelius Cardew, an English composer who broke tradition with his alternative, experimental Scratch Orchestra. In The Nine Monads of David Bell, 2006, the life of David, a patient at Kingsley Hall, a centre set up by rebel psychiatrist R.D. Laing. This is a personal project for Fowler who experienced the treatment of mental illness within his own family. Laing believed madness was a product of family and society nothing else and used radical techniques and experimented with LSD in his treatments. Fowler follows Bell’s psychological journey within this context together with including a film that recreates his dreams. Works on paper, including newspapers, which Bell wrote and expressed on are also included.