Artist Manon de Boer invited three young musicians to spend time together at Porthmeor Studios in St Ives, with the support of the Music Department at Helston Community College.
Taking its title from their names (Bella Stevens, Maia Roberts and Nick Frantz), the film quietly observes the ways in which they experiment and play, improvising with sounds and rhythms – making something out of nothing.
The film is a development of Manon de Boer’s continuing fascination with the ways in which ‘open time’ can provide the conditions for creation.
Manon de Boer’s work is often described as a form of portraiture. A Dutch artist living in Brussels, she was educated at the Akademie Van Beeldende Kunsten, Rotterdam and at the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam. Her work has been exhibited internationally, at the Venice Biennale (2007), Berlin Biennale (2008), São Paulo Bienal (2010), Documenta 13 (2012) and Taipei Biennial (2016), and has also been included in numerous international film festivals. A major exhibition of her work entitled Giving Time to Time was presented at Secession in Vienna in 2016.
Bella, Maia and Nick (From nothing to something to something else, part 1) was commissioned by CAST for Groundwork, with curatorial support from Tate St Ives. The film was co-produced by CAST and Auguste Orts with support from Arts Council England, Elephant Trust and the Mondriaan Fund.