24 March 2022 sees the launch of Love Infinity, the first art film of its genre, created in London by Oscar Winner and Chinese multidisciplinary artist Tim Yip. Focusing on East London’s unique creative spirit, Love Infinity brings together an inspiring cast with unparalleled access to some of the most iconic and diverse living artists and creatives of our time, across visual arts, fashion, music and the creative industries, including, amongst others: Vivienne Westwood, Gilbert & George, Philip Colbert, Daniel Lismore, Stephen Jones, Pandemonia, Stik, Sue Webster and Jonny Woo.
The bold cinematic art film brings to the foreground societal themes of identity, diversity and freedom, and sees Yip turn his camera lens towards London at a period of economic uncertainty, political division, and environmental crisis, to create raw intimate footage of untold narratives. Love Infinity is an intricate map of interlinking stories. The resulting film gives a sense of being suspended in time, in a Love Infinity world which is both without time or specific place.
The film follows the perspective of Stella, a 17-year-old girl looking from ‘Grey London’ towards ‘Colourful London,’ a world created by artists in all their diverse forms. This world includes Stephen Jones as archbishop, Charles Saumarez-Smith as historian and as its omnipotent creator Daniel Lismore, a living sculpture who is also currently ambassador for Coventry City of Culture. The sculpture ‘Lili’ is an ever-present muse-like figure throughout Yip’s work, offering up questions around ‘Spiritual DNA’ and identity constructs. The abstract nature of Lili, in Yip’s view, means she has the ability to connect with everything at the level of the subconscious.
Filmed over the course of two years, technically Love Infinity departs from conventional narrative frameworks, seeking to develop a more open-ended approach and emphasising direct contact between film maker and subject. Working with a simple Canon 5D camera and a skeletal crew, Yip merges phantasmagorical dreamscapes with reportage, resulting in a film that is part-documentary, part-fiction. On a journey through magical, historical London, we are gifted singular insight into the worlds of those who, from the fringes, over decades came to transform this part of the city. Through the outsider’s view, Yip gives clarity and texture to what is in plain sight, presenting a vision of the city as never seen before.
Oscar Winner for Best Production Design on Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (dir. Ang Lee, 2000), Tim Yip has a multi-faceted artistic practice that spans all disciplines, from drawing, sculpture and film to stage and writing. He has worked with some of the world’s most sought-after screen directors as well as world-leading practitioners of the stage Akram Khan, Robert Wilson and Yang Liping.
His unique art blurs the boundaries between media, as in his recent stage adaptation of Eileen Chang’s novella Love In A Fallen City, which premiered at Shanghai Grand Theatre in 2021. Love Infinity is produced by renowned artist and photographer Maryam Eisler and designer and conceptual arts curator Mei-Hui Liu.
Global streaming service MUBI is pleased present Tim Yip’s Love Infinity, allowing audiences of all cultures around the world to discover a truly beautiful film.
©2022 Tim Yip
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