Kiss Kiss Kill Kill – Exhibition and symposium

Official event poster

The University of Hertfordshire informs us about one of their upcoming events:
Kiss Kiss Kill:
The graphic art and forgotten
Spy films of Cold War Europe.

The event – certainly a must for James Bond 007 and spy genre fans – features an exhibition of European Cold War and Spy movie posters, but also an international symposium and a lecture on the ‘Eurospy’ genre, as well as film showings, such as the 1968 Italian cult classic ‘Danger Diabolik’.

Fore further details, read the press release below. CommanderBond.net also recommends visiting the excellent webiste www.kisskisskillkillarchive.com, which not only contains full details on the event, but also an extensive archive of ‘Eurospy’ film reviews and posters.

The press release:

KISS KISS KILL KILL:
THE GRAPHIC ART AND FORGOTTEN SPY FILMS OF COLD WAR EUROPE
10 SEPTEMBER – 16 OCTOBER 2010

University of Hertfordshire Galleries (UH Galleries) and the Hertfordshire Film Consortium are delighted to present Kiss Kiss Kill Kill, an exhibition, symposium and a series of film screenings celebrating the unique graphic art and forgotten spy films of Cold War Europe at the University of Hertfordshire Galleries

Centred on the kitsch designs produced across Europe during the Cold War, Kiss Kiss Kill Kill is the first exhibition of a collection of newly restored posters from Belgium, Czechoslovakia, France, Italy, Poland, Romania, Spain, the U.S.S.R, East and West Germany and the UK. The different graphic styles in the East and West provide an expansive portrait of European taste, national identity and politics of the period, with the brash super kitsch of Italian cinema posters juxtaposed compellingly with the lo-tech golden age of non commercial Czech film poster design.

The posters relate to an entire legacy of films tarnished by state control in Eastern Europe, and the overkill of the Spy Genre in the West. The exhibition will include both leaden communist propaganda and the epically trashy fruits of European co-production.

University of Hertfordshire Galleries
Art and Design Gallery, Hatfield
Gallery Opening Times:
Monday to Friday 9.30am – 5.30pm
Saturday 9.30am – 3.30pm
Opening Reception:
Thursday 9 September 6.00pm – 8.00pm

An international symposium: The Forgotten Spy Films of Cold War Europe – the first of its kind ever staged, accompanies the exhibition. Taking place at UH Galleries in Hatfield on Saturday 18 September 2010, this full day event will include contributions from British and international specialists who will debate the ‘Eurospy’ genre across three thematic strands: Real Life Spies, Kitsch and Transnational Appropriation and Espionage Italia. The day will also include a showing of the forgotten spy classic Danger Route (Seth Holt, GB 1968) followed by a question and answer session.

A showing of Danger Diabolik (Mario Bava, IT 1968), a little known cult classic combining the master criminal, super-spy and psychedelic film genres, will take place at the Weston Auditorium on Tuesday 5 October at 7.00pm with an introductory talk by the curator of Kiss Kiss Kill Kill.

A public lecture, The European-ness of Eurospy by curator Richard Rhys Davies will take place on Tuesday 19 October at 5.30pm as part of Critical Dialogue programme jointly organised by UH Galleries, UH School of Creative Arts and SSAHRI, the Art and Design Research Institute.

Curator Richard Rhys Davies is a former film editor and custodian of the Kiss Kiss Kill Kill Archive, a repository of over 3,000 spy cinema artefacts from the Cold War, including a poster and stills collection, and 16mm film. A key ambition of the archive is to conserve important cultural artefacts that reflect the zeitgeist of their time. The focus is on films and graphic art that fall outside the accepted cannon of “good art”.

• Exhibition – Friday 10 September until Saturday 16 October, FREE. Kiss Kiss Kill Kill is a touring exhibition organised by UH Galleries for touring enquiries and availability please contact Matthew Shaul, Head of Programming and Operations UH Galleries on 01707 285376 or email [email protected]

• Symposium – Saturday 18 September, £35 full price, £25 concessions. The conference will explore the relationship between poster art, graphic design and espionage cinema during the Cold War, while providing an interdisciplinary forum for the development and appreciation of cult film, literature and the applied arts. UH Galleries and Hertfordshire Film Consortium gratefully acknowledges the cooperation of the Goethe-Institut London in the organisation of this event.

• Film Screening – ‘Danger Diabolik’ Saturday 5 October, £4 full price, £3 concessions. Revered in the USA and worshiped in Italy, this cult monster is barely known in the UK, until now… Introduced by Richard Rhys Davies (Curator, Kiss Kiss Kill Kill). Age suitability: 15+ Duration: 105mins

• Lecture – The European-ness of Eurospy, Tuesday 19 October, FREE. This lecture will be presented as part of ‘Critical Dialogue’, a lecture series designed to explore how contemporary art interacts with the social, political and philosophical dimensions of the contemporary world and where it intersects with other disciplines and discourses.

• University of Hertfordshire Galleries UH Galleries, at Hatfield and St. Albans, are amongst the most innovative contemporary art spaces in the UK. Working exclusively with emerging and established professional artists across all media, the Galleries organise a rolling programme of exhibitions, and collaborate with other major cultural institutions across Europe. UH Galleries’ exhibitions, which give artists space to experiment and develop new ideas, have been critically acclaimed in the national, international and specialist press.

• Hertfordshire Film Consortium Hertfordshire Film Consortium is a Media Education Partnership dedicated to providing quality film education activities across Hertfordshire ranging from film screenings, production workshops, study days, festivals and evening film studies courses.

For full details of the events please visit www.herts.ac.uk/artsandgalleries or www.kisskisskillkillarchive.com