Closing the Gates

About

For the last night of the Invisible Gates, Mercer Chance present a discussion led by John Cussans, Author of 'Undead Uprising: Haiti, Horror and the Zombie Complex'. And a film, 'Potoprens Amou Mwe' (Port-au-Prince my love) by artist and film maker Alberto Danelli, filmed in Port Au Prince 2018 and following members of the Atis Rezistans.

John Cussans: https://codeless88.wordpress.com/

Alberto Danelli: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZFXPr-gzgboFk-4WSpPqeQ?app=desktop

​Anna Sebastian: www.annasebastian.com

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John Cussans is an artist, writer, independent researcher and educator. His doctoral thesis - Revolting Subjects and Epidemic Disorder - completed in 1995, explored the video-nasty controversy in the UK from a critical perspective derived from the writings of Georges Bataille. In 2001 he co-founded the Bughouse, an international arts project based on the writings of Philip K. Dick which culminated in Project VALIS (2002) and The Ideoplasmic Congress (1973 - 2005). In December 2009 and 2011 he participated in the Ghetto Biennale in Haiti and began a number of joint projects with a local video collective called Tele Geto. He is the writer of Undead Uprising: Haiti, Horror and the Zombie Complex - which examines how misrepresentations of Haitian history and culture have impacted international foreign policy towards the country.
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Alberto Danelli is an artist whose practice spans between music, performance, and film. His interest as an experimental filmmaker is about giving visibility to underrepresented realities and he’s currently working on numerous projects including documentaries and music videos. 
Based in London, he has been visiting Haiti in 2015 and 2017 researching the relationship between spirituality, music and art within the Vodou tradition. During his last trip, he framed on camera the artists of Atis Rezistans, a traditional Rara music ensemble, and different neighbourhoods of Port-au-Prince. The feature film composed for this event will show the artist’s studios, Vodou sculptures, sprawling ghettos, temples and markets, music performances, and a procession for the dead. 
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Anna Sebastian's first London solo exhibition documents ongoing research into a Vodou myth first heard in Port-au-Prince in Haiti in 2015: that there are nine gates to the other world in the universe, nine in the solar system, nine on earth, and nine in Haiti. 

The works trace an investigation through magic and Vodou, history, mysticism and alterations of consciousness. The viewer is drawn into the landscapes of Les invisibles; the Vodou land of death, gods and spirits; a parallel world close to our own, but beyond the limits of vision.