Portrait moments collected across the world carry powerful situations and stand out from the grip of the image with an expression, a tear, a flame, a scar or a position of the body. The glances and gestures directed beyond the frame of the photograph both stun and shake; the documentary and fictional scenes highlight traces of the elements or of cruelty, but also impressive expressions of harmony and concord. A single window carries the weight or the unfolding of a dramatic story.
Cosmic horror explores the elements and matter of so-called inanimate nature, which become actors and form a new ecosystem. A stream of depictions of fluid materials embedded into each other is accompanied by an unsettling soundtrack that reinforces the uncertainty of whether we are watching a cosmogonic or eschatological vision.
An artistically sophisticated performative rendition of speeches given at a conference of cultural workers in the former Yugoslavia in 1985 by artists, curators and cultural diplomats from the European South and the Middle and Far East, proposing strategies of self-determination and an emphasis on the autonomy of non-Western arts. The translation of these messages into acoustic, choreographic and architectural structures also reinforces the female voice that is missing from traditional narratives of the construction of the world today.
Private film footage of fighter pilots’ military training is permeated by the alluring details of fluttering butterfly wings. The graceful flight is marred by the awareness of navigational tasks as preparation for target acquisition and the military engagement of machines.
An elegy for a non-existent country explores the hypothesis that breaking ties with the past can be the path to a new identity. Through an inventive narrative and across temporal distance, it connects a Vietnamese-speaking Kosovan woman and an American soldier in Vietnam, who are surprised by a new experience with language that affects their memory and their reading of the world and relationships.
As World War II raged around the globe, a professor from Eastern Europe and his 17-year-old bride created an oasis just across the Southern California border in Tecate, Mexico. It became known as Rancho La Puerta, a sanctuary for people from all over the world to come and learn about health and wellness. That 17-year-old girl, Deborah Szekely, is now 102 years old and is the living embodiment of everything the Ranch aspires to be and to teach. The Ranch and its sister property, The Golden Door in San Marcos, California, continue today to serve celebrities, royalty, and anyone in search of a healthier life. Szekely is considered the founder of the modern-day spa industry, the Godmother of Fitness, and this film explores her incredible life, along with the obstacles and triumphs of being a woman entrepreneur.
The architecture of idyllic landscapes, strange rooms and idealized, even abstracted living spaces combines familiar details with unfamiliar corners and explorations of buildings and the liminal areas in between. Through movements back and forth across these zones, it illuminates memories and possible answers to the question of what home is.
Images of Uzbek folklore permeate the author's story with the motif of trauma. She connects the reflection on self-acceptance and awareness of one's own strength with cultural self-determination and the need for personal and collective resilience. The narrative, woven from themes of traditional Uzbek culture through materials drawn from a variety of sources including archival Uzbek films and photographs, unfolds in an evocative sound design.
A dreamlike deconstruction of the female body in its movements and wandering through space and in confrontation with visual ruptures. The lyrical composition allows surfaces and gestures to spill out into surfaces of exploration, situating them within the whole of the mastery of the void by physical presence.
The documentary, which was part of the exhibition of the same name, captures moments of birds and people meeting together in urban space. The most glaring sign of the incongruity in such relationships is the great number of injuries with which these winged inhabitants of metropolises end up at rescue stations. Wounds and irreversible damage are inflicted on them through intentional and unintentional human activity, but also by human creations that serve the everyday functioning of society. At the other end of the spectrum, there are individuals who are not only interested in the life of birds, but also care about their welfare and, in a figurative sense, communicate with our avian companions.
Mechanism is an experimental film which features a single character transforming into four comedic archetypes, randomly generated from over 150 terms derived from genre film, fashion, queer camp, web culture, and pop psychology. Mechanism explores the ways in which laughter can be divorced from humour, particularly for those for whom laughter is both the only escape and the damning symptom of hysteria, malaise, and malevolence.
“My grandmother’s initial encounter with a caboclo, an Amerindian spirit rooted in Afro-Brazilian traditions, stands as a treasure passed down through generations. Like an invocation, it becomes the narrative core and framework for other visions, particularly among the women in my family. Acknowledging there’s much to see beyond the visible spectrum, Aparição reflects on vision as a collective act.”
We have detected that you are using an ad blocker. In order to view this page please disable your ad blocker or whitelist this site from your ad blocker. Thanks!
