The Timeless Sloth. Film programme curated by Anouk De Clercq

‘The Timeless Sloth’. Film programme curated by Anouk De Clercq

To delve deeper into the themes underlying her exhibition, Anouk De Clercq has curated ‘The Timeless Sloth’ – a special programme that offers a meditation on the world, immersing us in lyrical landscapes and the slow rhythm of sloth time. Through two contemplative films – ‘Tales from the Source’ by Leonard Pongo and ‘Now, At Last!’ by Ben Rivers – the programme invites us to step out of linear time and into a more reflective relationship with the world. These works offer contrasting yet complementary perspectives on slowness, presence, and perception.

In ‘Tales from the Source’, the Congolese landscape becomes a protagonist – an ancient, sentient force rendered through multispectral visuals that heighten its mystery and vitality. Surreal colours and dreamlike lighting transform the environment into a kind of living archive: rich, layered, and ineffable. Pongo’s film does not seek to explain, but to experience the landscape, fostering a reverent mode of witnessing. The original score by Bear Bones, Lay Low deepens this sensory immersion, creating a dialogue between sound and image that feels almost ritualistic.

In contrast, ‘Now, At Last!’ by Ben Rivers turns its gaze inward and downward, to a creature often overlooked: the sloth. Filmed in intimate 16mm, the work is a quiet celebration of slowness as a way of being. Cherry the sloth becomes both subject and metaphor – a symbol of resistance to speed and efficiency, and a guide to a more mindful, embodied way of seeing. Rivers invites us not just to watch, but to wait – to let go of narrative momentum and surrender to stillness.

Together, these films reflect De Clercq’s ongoing interest in slowness, lyricism, and the poetics of perception. They create space for viewers to question dominant temporalities – those of progress, urgency, and consumption – and instead attune to subtler rhythms: geological, animal, ancestral. In doing so, The Timeless Sloth becomes not just a screening, but a kind of temporal recalibration – an extension of the exhibition’s contemplative spirit and an invitation to dwell, sense, and simply be.

The event will take place on Saturday, April 26, at 5:30 PM in the CAC Cinema Hall.

The event is free of charge.