In 2017, for the second year running, MAAT took part in Artists’ Film International, a programme dedicated to exhibiting video, film and animation by artists from around the world. Established by the Whitechapel Gallery (London), this network brings together a group of institutions that every year choose a film by a relevant artist in their country and share it with the other partners. The selected works are then exhibited at each institution under a common theme, thus offering a privileged platform to map out contemporary artistic production in the field of the moving image.

In dialogue with the industrial machinery at the Boiler Hall, the exhibition presented a selection of films around the concept of “collaboration”. In addition to works resulting from collaborations between artists and other creators, the exhibition featured films that testify to the renewed relevance and potential of collaborative experiences at a time of erosion of social, political and economic structures.

Launched in 2008 by the Whitechapel Gallery in London, the Artists’ Film International programme is a global partnership. Every year, each member chooses a work by a prominent artist from their country, and then shares it with the other partners. The combined works are exhibited in all the participating countries, bringing together artists whose practices are deeply rooted in their individual contexts.