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Revolver

Forum Expanded Exhibition 2023
© Crystal Z Campbell
Revolver is an archive of pareidolia, a situation in which someone sees a pattern or an image of something that does not exist, narrated by a descendant of Exodusters, Black people from the southern United States who fled violence and inequities following the American Civil War of 1861–65. The city of Nicodemus in Kansas was deemed a refuge for Exodusters. Two contradicting narratives about this city are difficult to hold at once: the lure of a potential utopia while also being exiled in one’s own land. Guided by memory, history, and rumour of a fabled Black utopia, Revolver pairs abstraction and perceptual inquiry with psychic conjuring. Sonic transitions forge this experimental documentary, a perpetual chronicle of witnessing and wayfinding.
by Crystal Z Campbell
with Angela Bates USA 2022 English 17’ Colour International premiere

With

  • Angela Bates

Crew

Director Crystal Z Campbell
Editing Crystal Z Campbell
Sound Design Crystal Z Campbell
Producer Crystal Z Campbell

Produced by

Crystal Z Campbell

Photos

Crystal Z Campbell

© Melissa Lukenbaugh

Crystal Z Campbell is a multidisciplinary artist, experimental filmmaker and writer of Black, Filipinx and Chinese descent whose works centre around underloved archival material and public secrets – fragments of information known by many but undertold or unspoken. Screenings and exhibitions include: SFMOMA, San Francisco; Drawing Center, New York; ICA Philadelphia; REDCAT, Los Angeles; and DocLisboa. Campbell was a featured filmmaker at the 67th Flaherty Film Seminar and is a Visiting Associate Professor in Art & Media Study at University at Buffalo.

Filmography

2009 A DARK LOVE STORY FOR CLOWNS; 5 min. 2010 WITNESS; 5 min. 2011 Futures for Failures; 1 min. 2017 Go-Rilla Means War; 19 min. 2018 On The Way To The Moon, We Discovered The Earth; 10 min. 2019 CURRENCY; 3 min. 2020 A Meditation on Nature in the Abscence of an Eclipse; 8 min. · Viewfinder; video installation, 20 min. 2021 Flight; video installation, 24 min. 2022 Revolver

Bio- & filmography as of Berlinale 2023