Douglas Gordon's cutting-edge work is the stuff of fantasy

The Arts Diary

Friday 25 January 2013 20:00 GMT

Douglas Gordon's latest film will be unveiled to audiences at the Berlin Film Festival next month (AP)

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Douglas Gordon's latest film, consisting solely of traditional knife-grinders in Morocco immersed in their work in different locations of the Kasbah in Tangiers, will be unveiled to audiences at the Berlin Film Festival next month.

While the work, Sharpening Fantasy, 2012, may leave some miffed, it is very much in keeping with his offbeat oeuvre: there was the video work that captured the snake charmers of Marrakech that Gordon made four years ago and before that, the film of the French footballer, Zinedine Zidane, filmed playing a game in real time.

Having seen Zidane, I can vouch for its hypnotic power and have no doubt that knife-grinders will be just as compelling under Gordon's video eye.

Also in the Arts Diary:

Cabaret stars hit back at Simon Cowell and Gary Barlow

Tunisia's Star Wars remnants revealed at London's Tate Modern

George Orwell's classic books wing their way to Burma