MASS by Nadeem Din-Gabisi screens at Lyra Bristol Poetry Festival, hosted by Caramel Film Club and curated by Be Manzini. The showcase, entitled POETRY IN MOTION, focuses on poetry films by creatives of African and Caribbean descent, also featuring work by Yomi Ṣode, Dorothea Smartt and Zena Edwards. The screening is followed by a Q&A with Be Manzini.

MASS takes as a starting point the concept of ‘Black visual frequency’ coined by academic Tina Campt which, for the artist, translates as a place of home and belonging, seen and unseen. To ‘mass’ is to materialise, to become present. It is also an allusion to the idea of the ‘massive’ - a group of people connected by shared allegiances and bonds. 

Focusing our attention on the invisible transmission of radio waves within the urban environment, MASS embodies an intangible ‘spirit’ or ‘signal’ that characterises various aspects of contemporary Black experience around which people identify and congregate. Featuring contributions from musician Coby Sey, artist-filmmaker Rhea Storr, and Director of Photography Shivani Hassard, and filmed on 16mm, 8mm and digital video, MASS gives poetic expression to this unseen spectrum of background signals and contrasts them with vivid depictions of a shared and intimate private space of sanctuary, solidarity and celebration.

MASS (2020) by Nadeem Din-Gabisi was commissioned for Frequencies, a curatorial project initiated by Cynthia Silveira. Commissioned and produced by Film and Video Umbrella (Producer Leah McGurk) as part of FVU's Curatorial Practice Award. FVU is supported by Arts Council England.