Emily Wardill: Game Keepers Without Game

The Showroom presents a solo exhibition by British artist Emily Wardill, one of the UK’s most exciting filmmakers.

The exhibition includes the London premiere of her new work, Game Keepers Without Game, a powerful feature length film based on Life is a Dream (La Vida es Sueño) by Pedro Calderón de la Barca. The exhibition will also stage the development of Wardill’s new film, Full Firearms.

Game Keepers Without Game The film translates the 17th Century play by Calderón de la Barca into contemporary London; it tells the story of a girl put up for adoption by her family at a young age. When the girl is a teenager her father engineers a way for her to return to the family home, but her destructive response to the objects and people within leads to her being forcibly removed and encouraged to believe that the experience was just a dream.

Set to a complex drumming soundtrack, the film has a stark yet glossy aesthetic – the characters and objects are presented as if they are airline food, with no person or object touching another.

Full Firearms The script for a new film will be developed during workshops staged by the artist and The Showroom. A group of actors will work collaboratively to create scenes through improvisation, acting, writing and editing. The developing film will be shown as a work in progress during the exhibition. Emily Wardill (b.1977) is a London-based filmmaker. She has exhibited widely in the UK and internationally, including solo projects at Spacex, Exeter (2009); ICA, London (2008); Fortescue Avenue/Jonathan Viner, London (2005 and 2006); and STANDARD (OLSO) (2008). Her work has been screened at the Art Now Lightbox, Tate Britain; the International Short Film Festival, Oberhausen; Whitechapel Gallery, London; Witte de With, Rotterdam; and the London Film Festival. In 2008, Wardill was nominated for the Jarman Award and performed Life is a Dream at the Serpentine Gallery, London in 2007.

Game Keepers Without Game has been supported by Spacex, Arts Council England, STANDARD (OSLO), De Appel, University of the Arts London and The Showroom. The exhibition at The Showroom is generously supported by the Henry Moore Foundation and Outset.

Emily Wardill: Game Keepers Without Game