Private Project

The Covenant of Schwitters' Army

The Covenant of Schwitters' Army tells the quirky story of an art collection and its attempt to make history. The Schwitters’ Army Collection of Collage Art is a permanent collection of international collage art at MERZ Gallery in Sanquhar, Scotland. The contributing artists are referred to as Veterans of Schwitters' Army. The Schwitters’ Army Project is a performative piece of culture work that includes history making, event documentation, and archive building that demonstrates how art movements are manufactured. The Project operates through a series of declarations issued by the Convenor, Curator and Representative of Schwitters’ Army Ric Kasini Kadour, V.S.A. These documents are signed and witnessed and generate ephemera which is placed in the archive. Declarations are both real documents and pieces of performance art in the vein of Yves Klein’s Zones of Immaterial Pictorial Sensibility. In 2022, Kadour held a reunion of Veterans of Schwitters' Army where they paraded through the Scottish countryside and unveiled a historic blue plaque on the walls of MERZ.

  • Ric Kasini Kadour
    Director
  • Project Type:
    Documentary
  • Genres:
    collage animation, documentary, comedy
  • Runtime:
    9 minutes 38 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    June 4, 2023
  • Production Budget:
    500 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    Canada
  • Country of Filming:
    United Kingdom
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
Distribution Information
  • Kasini House
    Sales Agent
    Country: Canada
    Rights: All Rights
Director Biography - Ric Kasini Kadour

Based in New Orleans, Louisiana and Montreal, Quebec, Ric Kasini Kadour, a 2021 recipient of a Curatorial Fellowship from The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, is a writer, artist, publisher, and cultural worker. With the Vermont Arts Council, he curated “Connection: The Art of Coming Together” (2017) and Vermont Artists to Watch (2018, 2019, 2020). In New Orleans (2018-2019), he curated “Revolutionary Paths” at Antenna Gallery and “Cultural Deconstructions” at LeMieux Galleries. As Curator of Contemporary Art at Rokeby Museum in Ferrisburgh, Vermont (2019-2020), he curated “Rokeby Through the Lens”, “Structures”, and “Mending Fences: New Works by Carol MacDonald”. At the Southern Vermont Arts Center (2019), he curated “Contemporary American Regionalism: Vermont Perspectives” and “Where the Sun Casts No Shadow: Postcards from the Creative Crossroads of Quito, Ecuador”. With Frank Juarez, he co-curated “The Money $how: Cash, Labor, Capitalism & Collage” at Saint Kate-The Arts Hotel in Milwaukee, Wisconsin (April-September 2021). For the 52nd Annual Birr Vintage Week and Arts Festival in Ireland (August 2021), Kadour curated “Empty Columns Are a Place to Dream”, which was also shown at Knoxville Museum of Art (January-February 2022) and MERZ Gallery in Sanquhar, Scotland (May 2022). As result of the two Collage Artist Residencies in Sanquhar, Scotland in September 2022 and April 2023, Kadour curated “Mystical Landscape: Secrets of the Vale”, which was shown at MERZ Gallery (September 2022) and at the Knoxville Museum of Art (March-May 2023) and “Passing Place” at MERZ Gallery (April 2023) and the Kolaj Institute Studio (June 2023). Kadour is editor and publisher of Kolaj Magazine. His writing has appeared in Hyperallergic, OEI, Vermont Magazine, Seven Days, and Art New England (where he was the Vermont editor). In Winter 2020, he was artist-in-residence at MERZ Gallery in Sanquhar, Scotland. He holds a BA in Comparative Religion from the University of Vermont.

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Director Statement

The Covenant of Schwitters' Army uses collage animation, historical photographs, and documentary footage to tell the story of The Schwitters’ Army Collection of Collage Art. Cut-out animations, the visual aesthetics of true crime documentaries, and photography of the Scottish countryside come together in a playful film that is equally performative and poetic. Like the collection that is its subject, the film is an example of Kadour's premise, "quod theatrum facit quod historiae" or "that of theatre makes that of history" and invites the viewer to consider how history is made and remembered.