- City
- Basel, Switzerland
- Tags
- Connect South Africa
- Artistic Residency
- Connect
- Year
- 2022
Ian Purnell works at the intersection of visual art, documentary and performance
With a background in documentary filmmaking, Purnell’s practice involves using tools from cinema and the cinematographic space to explore the visual narratives humans create, such as scientific imagery, to understand the world and universe around them. His work often blurs the lines between fiction and reality, experimenting with performative elements, archive material and actual footage to wander around the limits of human perception.
His work has been screened at the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen, Ann Arbor Film Festival (USA), Visions du Réel (CH), Sapporo Short Film Festival (JP), Berlin International Film Festival and the Julia Stoschek Collection Düsseldorf, among others. Ian Purnell studied documentary film at the Academy of Media Arts Cologne (KHM) and film editing Filmuniversität Potsdam-Babelsberg.
In 2021, Hassim and Ian Purnell were selected for Connect South Africa. Together, the artists completed a dual residency at CERN and at the group of astronomy observatories connected to the South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO) and the South African Radio Astronomy Observatory (SARAO).
