PHIL MAXWELL

I recently had the opportunity to present Going East at its Rotterdam premiere, alongside Hazuan Hashim, as part of an evening that explored the global struggle against capitalism. This screening was curated by David Whyte, whose work also contributed to the newly released anthology Drowning Capitalism. The event, which combined film, live music, and critical discourse, provided a space for reflection on the intersections of art, politics, and social change.

The mixed media image above uses a series of photographs I made in and around Rotterdam. These images capture fleeting moments that resonate with the film’s larger meditations on global interconnectedness and the human condition.

Going East is an observational film that eschews traditional narrative structure in favor of an immersive, non-linear exploration of life across various cultural and geographical contexts. Drawing extensively from our global archive of film and photography, the work presents a series of unmediated, intimate glimpses into people, places, and objects encountered in urban spaces worldwide. The absence of a conventional narrative allows the viewer to reflect on the complexity and vibrancy of life, while also raising questions about the systems that bind these disparate lives together.

Originally premiered at the Southbank Centre in London in 2008, Going East was accompanied by an original score by composer Lola Perrin. For the Rotterdam premiere, Perrin composed a completely new score that responded directly to the evolving themes of the film. This performance marked a significant moment in the ongoing dialogue between image and sound within the work, and an opportunity for the audience to engage with the piece through a heightened sensory experience.

The premiere was hosted at V2_Lab for the Unstable Media, an institution at the forefront of exploring the intersection of art, technology, and society. V2_Lab fosters a critical and experimental environment where artists, scholars, and technologists engage with the unstable nature of emerging media and its impact on contemporary culture. As a venue deeply committed to critical inquiry and the intersection of technology and artistic practice, V2_Lab provided an ideal setting for a film that interrogates the societal structures shaping our world.

For those interested, the full screening of Going East with Lola Perrin’s newly composed score, followed by a roundtable discussion, is available here: An Evening with David Whyte.

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