A ritual of transformation and awakening within the walls of the only existing original 'diorama' building in London. Followed by a celebration of the body and mind. The admission of sexual awakening and freedom. A tribute to the works of Georges Bataille. Filmed at The Bloomsbury Theatre, London, UK.
The 1968 version of Finger Poem. In it, VALIE EXPORT uses sign language in her performance, forming an alphabet with her fingers. This is a work that reflects her interest in semantic theories, her analysis of how language comes about and the images it uses, as well as the varying possibilities for articulation through body language or written or spoken language.
The performance 'Three' took place on November 30th, 1978, at Harlekin Art in Wiesbaden, Germany. The third participant, which is implied by title of the piece, is a snake. Ulay and Abramovic were lying flat on their stomach in one room together with the animal, with which they were trying to make contact via an inventive system. By using a circuit made of wire, and blowing into a bottle or plucking the wire with their fingers, Ulay and Abramovic caused vibrations to be directed towards the snake.
In the first 58 minute Performance, Relation in Space, which took place in July 1976 at the Biennale in Venice, Abramovic/Ulay, both naked, walk towards each other from opposite ends of a room, touching as they pass each other, and then they repeat the movement while their bodies collide and one of them (Marina) falls over under the impact, until they are both exhausted. A statically mounted video camera simultaneously filmed the touching of the bodies in the middle of the room.
Erin O'Connor explores the meaning of fashion consumption in a short performance film.
A groom becomes a bride in a gender bending fashion performance by Alexander McQueen.
A documentary featuring 30 Argentinian women aged between 4 and 80, sharing their stories of resilience, strength, and unique perspectives on womanhood through performance art.
Performance art. Two men are stuck in an enclosed space.
This video contains six life size boxes, made to measure. They are working models exploring how the architecture of the boxes (i.e. planes, axis and volume) can be used to see the human figure as an object in three dimensional space.
A 19-minute short film featuring the six performances of the Japanese performance art group Grinder-Man. Only released on VHS.
Life and art intersect on a spectacular Newfoundland farm where visual artist Colette Urban mounts thirteen art performances in the fields and barns of her property. Resilient, determined, self aware and funny, Colette embraces the transformative power of art as she restages the significant art performances of her thirty-year career. With the camera as her audience she transforms the quotidian into a playful world of the imagination with elaborate costumes and idiosyncratic self invented rituals.
Cracking open the human-camera body.
A figure is manipulated via a rope leading off screen.
Using faux archival footage and social media, Adam Himebauch, 38, has created the alter-ego of an artist who rose to fame in the 1970s.
An investigation into the extraordinary life and work of B. Catling, an eye-popping insight into the late-flourishing career of a maverick artist, teacher and performer.
A gay man living through the HIV/AIDS crisis reflects upon his recent history of loss with the help of his grandmother, who tells him a story of her own trauma and loss during the Jim Crow-era South.
This short documentary serves as a portrait of Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun, one of Canada's most important painters. We meet him at the Bisley Rifle Range in Surrey, England, where he's literally shooting the Indian Act in a performance piece called "An Indian Shooting the Indian Act." It's in protest of the ongoing effects of the Act's legislation on Indigenous people. We then follow him back to Canada, for interviews with the artist and a closer look at his work.
Marc with a C is the stage name of Orlando indie/DIY singer-songwriter Marc Sirdoreus and was formally a persona enacted on stage for over 20 years. This documentary covers their career using only filmed stage performances, interviews, and other video and audio releases published online by Marc or their audience. Made from a myriad of videos with view counts ranging from 15 to 30k, it chronicles their attempts to use music and lyrics to connect to and understand others, as well as their relationship to attention and performance as social media swallows up small artists to turn art into content.
During the 1980 exhibition of Burden's monumental kinetic sculpture The Big Wheel at Ronald Feldman Fine Arts, New York, Burden and Feldman were interviewed by art critic Willoughby Sharp. Burden articulates the process of creating The Big Wheel, a 6,000-pound, spinning cast-iron flywheel that is initially powered by a motorcycle, and discusses its relation to his earlier performance pieces and sculptural works. Addressing his motivations and the meaning of this potentially dangerous mechanical art object, Burden discusses such topics as the role of the artist in the industrial world, "personal insanity and mass insanity," and "man's propensity towards violence."