Showing 1–36 of 67 results

• ALIEN PLANET 2.22

  BY LA POCHA NOSTRA

  Fed up with the big city life, the pandemic, ecocide, and generalized violence, in August of 2022, Gómez-Peña and Balitrónica ran away to the gorgeous desert of Roswell, New Mexico, the oldest desert in North America. The RaiR Foundation generously housed and supported their strange filmmaking process during their stay. Gómez-Peña and Balitrónica invited artists EmaLee Arroyo, Sarah Stolar, Jess Fitz, and Kate Turner to make a performance art film. There was no script or film score, but rather drafts of performance rituals, a bunch of found props, handwritten poems, and some equipment to play with. The word “alien” was on their mind. What follows are excerpts of the material created during this residency.
• BECOMING FOSSIL

  BY PETRA KUPPERS & KIM MCDANIEL

  Becoming Fossil invites viewers to become time travelers through kaleidoscopic sensations of touch and elemental change. Join in and travel backward and forward in time around our small precious planet. Ride the waves of climate emergencies and experience both extinction and resiliency in human and more-than-human touches.
• YOUR WOUNDS BLEED ME تمہارے زخموں سے میرا خون

  BY PRIIYA PRETHORA

  The last walk to a melting glacier and the rituals of walking the moist ground it reveals by leaving. Things to carry with oneself on wounded paths and singing to the ancient frozen imprints disappearing into the memory of algal blooms sprouting in the warm seas. A journey on foot, connecting homes across the nomadic landscapes of borrowed belonging. A body alive, in the haunts of breaking ice.
• 19 GHOSTS AND ONE YARD

  BY SABRINA BELLENZIER AND GIORGI RODIONOV

  It has been 112 years since one single building in Tbilisi has stood as a silent witness to the passage of time, hosting countless generations, families, and lives. Facing all wars, national catastrophes, economical disasters and other troubles throughout all of its life, now it is the time for it to bid farewell to the 19 families who have called it home, as it prepares to be consigned to history forever. After the temporary relocation the residents of the building will return to the same pin on the map but to a newly built apartment block. The movie is made by Sabrina Bellenzier and Giorgi Rodionov, who explore the migration of memories from home to home at the same location, where the new inhabitants become the ghosts of the ruins the new home was built on. This project was developed in collaboration with Untitled Tbilisi, an art organisation that has been an integral part of the house for years, further emphasising the connection between the building and the creative work surrounding it. The film appears to be a reflection on the passage of time, the continuity of memory, and the transformation of physical spaces.
• 3.6.9. visions – for a small world

  BY SAUL GARCIA-LOPEZ aka LA SAULA

  Using psychomagic gore aesthetics and ritual-political body piercing, this performance reflects on the already begun hybrid "Third World War." An act of radical labour which utilise the "traces" and "debris" from the performance to create a conceptual dreamcatcher installation for people to interact with during the remaining days of the exhibition.
• A CREEPER, ME AND A DEAD BIRD

  BY FARIDA YESMIN (FKA KAJOLI ILOJAK)

  A meditation on freedom, repression and hope. When the ivy does not find its tower When the delicate creeper does not find a strong wall… Do we know how parasite plants can grow but not prosper? I was told that a woman should never be insecure. That she should never be struggling financially, spiritually, emotionally, or rely on others. A dead bird doesn't necessarily portend a physical death, but a metaphorical one. This dead bird marks the end of my search and struggle. It is the end of something and the start of something else.
• A feeling

  BY JOSEPH SCHOFIELD - ASH MCNAUGHTON - MARCEL SPARMANN

  A collective performance initiated by Future Ritual, A feeling explores ideas of death, remembrance, transformation, rebirth and the transference of energy.
• ADAPTATION

  BY KATA RANKOVIC

  "Mrs. Dalloway said she would buy the flowers to herself" Virginia Woolf, Mrs. Dalloway 12 sempreviva seeds were grown at Belgrade balcony and after two months of adaptation, they were adopted by 12 women. This is a tribute to all women, to remind them that their "invisible" interior is their brightest aura. This movie shows the love we carry in the unique existence of a female body and soul, which is the main key to the eternal flame.
• ANAM CARA – MIRROR IN THE MIRROR

  BY VESTANDPAGE

  An original experiment in fusing different art forms to create a comprehensive offering that, while maintaining each ingredient's unique flavours, leaves behind a nouveau aftertaste that will soothe the soul. –Pixelsgarage A radical, contemporary fairy tale. A collective performance-based film about the concept of home produced and co-created across Europe, the U.S. and Canada during the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown in April and May 2020. In the rooms of an imaginary dwelling, we encounter twenty-two artists in performance action, rituals and poetic sharing about their isolated notions of home: a place-non-place, where the invisible is made visible and vice versa. Without inside or outside, we recognise the rooms because they originate from the depths of our hearts. There, encounters continue to be possible despite distance, quarantine and insulation. What does "home" mean when forced inside, with insecurity, unpredictability, disease and death being the denominators of the moment? What can body-based artists speak about then, and to whom? Physically distant, how can a collective co-creative spirit be kept up?
• BLISSFUL SORROW (PART II)

  BY FARIDA YESMIN (FKA KAJOLI ILOJAK)

  A poetic durational performance exploring personal experiences of chronic pain, displacement, and the endurance of prejudices as a woman who faced modern slavery. Born in Bangladesh & having migrated to the UK about 20 years ago, the artist traces her journey of self-discovery & healing by grappling with her Bangladeshi heritage, cultural expectations, and the (metaphorical & physical) wounds that she carries in her body. The performance further explores Farida’s powerlessness in relation to the current political upheaval and the violence that her family & many others are currently experiencing in Bangladesh, with the rise of Islamic extremism.
• CORPOREAL

  BY ZOSIA ZOLTKOWSKI

  In collaboration with Mexican artist Jordi Hernandez's timber sculpture, I engaged in a dialogue between human and sculpture. The rope, a sinewy umbilicus, orchestrated a balletic, co-dependent interplay between my body and the sculpture. Through various movements—static, slow, and fast—I created a bond with the wooden sculpture. As I moved, the sculpture responded in kind, embodying defiance against its innate inanimateness. This synergy unveiled a narrative of forms—a dialogue in which the organic curvature of my body melded with the angular stoicism of the wooden structure. I didn’t just coexist with the sculpture; I became an integral part of its existence, and it became mine, challenging the conventional demarcations between artist, object, and audience. The performance resonated as a commentary on the human-environment continuum. In this interstice, the friction and tension symbolised the often overlooked yet intrinsic nexus between humans and nature. Corporeal emerged as a reflective mirror not just for myself—but also a contemplative vessel that implores us to reconceptualise our understanding of self in relation to our surroundings.
• DEVASTATE ME, BABY

  BY CHANTAL SPAPENS

  Created during the residency at Chateau d’Orquevaux in France, this video is inspired by Baudelaire’s masterpiece « Les fleurs du mal », a collection of ‘cursed poetry’, encapsulating the French Decadent movement. Decadence, in the context of womanhood and feminism, holds relevance in its essence of refusal—an opposition to the norm. This manifests as a rejection of art historical ideologies (such as the use of craft), gendered norms, traditional feminine roles, and discourse around excessive consumption of food, alcohol, and drugs. Chantal purposefully embrace this ‘excess’ as a deliberate and liberating aesthetic, contemplating the obsessive, violent and addictive nature of desire. In conclusion, decadence is far from obsolete; we live in undeniably ultra-decadent times. The performance navigates and challenges these decadent complexities, offering a contemplative lens on the refusal of societal norms and the liberation found in embracing excess.
• DIGILABAIR 2023 | EMERGENCIES OF THE CONTEMPORARY – MINI MOVIE

  BY VESTANDPAGE

  The VIII VENICE INTERNATIONAL PERFORMANCE ART WEEK 2023 presents “DigiLabAir | Emergencies of the Contemporary”.    The event was focused on sustainable development as a fundamental principle of our societies, featuring a live performance program with internationally recognised performance artists addressing pressing issues such as marginalisation, poverty, climate emergency, migration, accessibility, social and gender equality, justice and peace.   "We are all part of this. We are all in this together. Let’s do it differently. Let’s do it in a way that we have never done before. And then, let’s never do it again this way. Let’s do it anew, every time, anew. Each and every time is different, and each and every time is new." VESTANDPAGE.    Featured artists:  Andrigo/Aliprandi (with Anna Maschietto, Ilaria Bagarolo, Maria Cargnelli, Michela Lorenzano, Valentina Milan, Maela Dal Mas), Franko B, Niya B, Nicola Fornoni, Dyana Gravina, Marta Jovanovic, Petra Kuppers, Steef Kersbergen & Vicky Maier, Yiannis Pappas, Priiya Prethora, Gabriele Provenzano, Sabrina Bellenzier & Giorgi Rodionov. The VIII VENICE INTERNATIONAL PERFORMANCE ART WEEK 2023  has been curated by its founders VestAndPage (Andrea Pagnes & Verena Stenke) in collaboration with Anja Foerschner (ECC Performance Art), Marta Jovanovic (G12 Hub), Francesco Kiais Mind the G.A.P.), Agustin Arguello & Gabriel Lyons (PAV - Performance Art Video). Produced by Studio Contemporanéo, Live Arts Cultures, EntrAxis and PAV Performance Art Supported by the European Cultural Centre (ECC), We Exhibit, Venezia Prime Scelte, Daily Press.  The DigiLabAir exhibition has been co-funded by the European Union in collaboration with the Goethe-Institut Mailand. Cultural partnership: Accademia Unidee - Citta dell'arte Fondazione Pistoletto, Biella, and RUFA Rome University of Fine Arts. Under the patronage of Regione Veneto, Città Metropolitana di Venezia and Le Città in Festa. Technical direction: Aldo Aliprandi, Giovanni Dantomio.  Logistics: Giorgia De Santi, Giorgio de Battisti.  Event writer: Giulia Casalini.  Photographers: Lorenza Cini, Hugo Glendinning, Alexander Harbaugh, Edward Smith  Videographers: Matilde Sambo, Orlando Myxx. Camera and editing: Matilde Sambo Sound and Music: Mauro Sambo
• Ekdysis

  BY NIYA B

  A snake dreams of a human. And vice versa. In Greek mythology, the seer Tiresias was transformed into a woman for seven years for allegedly disturbing two copulating snakes on Mount Kyllini, in Greece. Counteracting the linear, patriarchal way of manufacturing history, Niya B’s mythopoesis layers mythology, personal history and multi-species entanglements to retell the Tiresian myth through a poetic and performative journey of transformation. Ekdysis is a scientific term referring to the process of shedding the external layer of the skin in reptiles. In this work, Niya B executes her own ekdysis by shedding the imposed identities of nation, religion, class and gender. In this process, she engages in three ritual actions by performing a cathartic rite of passage on the top of the mountain, by stirring the layers of history hidden in the tranquil waters of the Lake Stymphalia, and by eventually finding embodiment in the form of a snake-woman. SHORT DESCRIPTION (if needed) Inspired by the myth of Tiresias, Ekdysis is a contemporary mythopoetic journey exploring personal narratives of gender transition and nonhuman kinship-making on Mount Kyllini, in Greece.
• ENOSSIS

  BY VIRGINIA MASTROGIANNAKI

  A video performance with a spoken text as a by-product of the “Treaty on European Union” and the “Treaty establishing the European Community”. Only the paragraphs, articles and points containing the word Enossis (Union) have been saved from the original texts of the treaties. All terms like bank, banking, ECB (European Central Bank), chapter, costs, country, economic, European, fees, government, governmental, international, market, monetary, nation, national, NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization), people, and state have been removed. Without adding or replacing phrases and words (except changing grammatical issues where required for the Greek language), the new text dismantles the institutional character of its members (Member States-Nations) and the central economic/monetary profile underlying the constitution of the European Community. The video is a comment on the nature of the mother tongue since it has to be read so that the missing words will not affect the pronunciation of the terms that follow them. The new ENOSSIS text seems more akin to a humanist manifesto than an economic and monetary treaty.
• I CANNOT BE SILENCE(D) ANYMORE

  BY KIRSTEN HESHUSIUS

  Only by undergoing abuse do I now see it around me all the time—not only the abuse I experienced but also racism, gender inequality, abuse of the planet and the underlying structures of power. What strikes me in my waking up process is that the victims of whatever abuse suffer silently. Speaking up about it doesn’t help most of the time because people don’t believe you or tell you it wasn’t all that bad, whereby they are causing extra harm and isolation. I understand this mechanism of disbelief now. If you acknowledge abuse, you must step out of your comfort zone and leave behind this false sense of security. You have to take responsibility. Most people won’t do this. I stepped out of the groove—I cannot be silence(d) anymore.  
• I Was Once the Snake Woman

  BY NIYA B

  The performance acts as a metaphor for the possibility of a resilient identity in a fast-changing world of political extremes, climate uncertainty, species extinction, and the fetishization of nature. It is an investigation of serpent mythologies, fashion’s fascination with the animal world, and the contradictions inherent in imitating the skin pattern of a species that humans both fear and kill. Niya embodies the Snake Woman—a hybrid offspring inspired by the metamorphic ancient Greek myth of Tiresia. The hybrid creature glides between captions from online fashion videos and lines taken from Snake Poems by Margaret Atwood. “…to talk with the body is what the snake does...” Margaret Atwood. After Heraclitus. In Interlunar. 1984 “…if you monochrome the print If you abstract the print You sort of take the danger Take the heat Take those messages away from the animal print You’ve just left with this nice idea of it Without of it being too scary…” Jess Cartner-Morley. How to dress: animal print. The Guardian. 8 November 2013.
• Intimate Threads

  BY NIYA B

  Intimate Threads is a simultaneous ritual across continents, emerging from an online collaboration between artists Bunny Cadag and Niya B. The artists follow the common threads that connect them across continents, particularly the pre-Christian mythology and cultural and spiritual traditions of the Philippines and Greece. Bunny Cadag deploys her performative alter ego Vera Maningning to weave a trans-personal journey of decolonisation and healing. Through ritualistic dancing and the art of doll-making, she invokes the spirit of the Snake Woman, the hybrid offspring of Niya B’s mythopoetic practice, which is inspired by the ancient Greek myth of Tiresias. In challenging the confines of colonial and patriarchal narratives, the artists cohabit a space of possibilities for trans-local and trans-cultural entanglements. Amidst the global climate crisis and struggles for transgender rights, they articulate a new mythology that embraces the diversity of genders and the interconnectedness of all species.
• La Copla y El Anfiteatro de la Quebrada de las Conchas

  BY G.R.A.Pa

  This is a report, registration, and promotion project of the acoustic and musical heritage of the Calchaquíes Valleys, particularly the Natural Amphitheater of the Quebrada del Río de las Conchas in Salta Province. Through diverse technologies, we aim to bring the local community closer to a broader audience. The project consists of an interrelated series of individual works: An acoustic report in 3D audio, A series of musical and cultural manifestations presented in Virtual Reality (VR) and video installations, the realization of a documentary recording that captures the work carried out.
• MARE NOSTRUM

  BY CHANTAL SPAPENS

  For centuries, the Mediterranean Sea has occupied a central place in the evolution of human society and Europe. It is both a physical barrier to human mobility and an element that connects land and continents. Odysseus pursued his hero’s journey around the Mediterranean basin. Today, the Mare Nostrum is a precarious, tragic space where immigrants, attracted by the siren’s song of salvation and sanctuary in Europe, embark on a perilous journey that could lead them to exclusion or inclusion. The word siren stems from the Greek σειρά (seirá: rope, cord) and εἴρω (eírō: to tie, join, fasten), resulting in the meaning of the one who binds or entangles. Therefore, the siren will knot deceptive nets of blood-red ropes on the Mediterranean seashore, ultimately leaving them behind. Whether they stay there to protect or imprison, for salvation or damnation remains unclear. Vittorio Venturoli writes this performative piece brings one to reflect on the dual relationship of migrants with the Mediterranean. Vehicle of migrations, the sea is numb and neutral in its endless role of levelling, smoothening edges, softening, tie after tie, even the sharpest will. Even the loudest storms are muted with time into a still, quiet fairness. It never alters the motion of its impartial ruling. And so, as guardians, instruments of its blind justice, the sirens weave the net of its will, enveloping wanderers, conquerors and fugitives. The performer embodies the siren—the tool of its choice, the voice of the waves, an ambiguous
• Owning nothing but a body. Becoming nothing but a body.

  BY NATIA CHIKVAIDZE

  The performance invites the audience into a raw and vulnerable state depicting personal struggles like mistrust, frustration, subordination, and newfound freedom. It explores the entirety of emotions towards doctors, resulting from misdiagnosis, medical errors and disrespectful behavior, influenced by both individual and cultural factors. In a country with a poorly functioning healthcare system and limited infrastructure, accurate diagnosis relies on proximity and privileged connections, leading to suspicion and constant verification. The performance reveals abusive medical experimentation without consent or clear explanation, exploring traces of pain and learned behavioral patterns. The work portrays physical experiences of humiliation, pain and mistrust as corporeal memories, showcasing the doctors exercise of power and manipulation through the human body. Furthermore, the piece delves into brutal memories such as organ removal or near-loss, illustrating resilience and emotional healing from the trauma.
• PLANTAIN

  BY VESTANDPAGE

  It may be a documentary, but it is not. It may be an art film, but it is not. It is instead a philosophical work. –Strona Tańca A memory message to every human being. –Lucrezia De Domizio Durini VestAndPage’s performance-based feature film based on actual historical events, “PLANTAIN”, was produced and filmed on location during the month-long performance walk by artist duo VestAndPage from Northern Germany through Poland to the Russian region of Kaliningrad in May/June 2015. Taking a private family story and the historical event of post-WWII displacements as starting points, the film focuses on the issue of the replaced – displaced – in-place body. It questions how past and present speak to and through our bodies facing ethical, social and existential challenges. It investigates the process of acceptance of history, its individual and collective archiving, and concepts of identity and permeability of cultural borders. In 7 episodes, the film recalls family members to look into time, mystery, war, duty, courage, trauma and fidelity. In 2010, VestAndPage inspired a new experimental and ecological performance-based film production method. Theirs are complexly layered film works that move in the realms of magic realism, through which they examine the evolution from original documentation of performative acts toward contextual, non-linear storytelling. Their films are produced on-site as direct and visceral performances, which are not rehearsed or staged and happen in response to extreme environments. Stenke and Pagnes usually work alone or with a small team of collaborators and use minimal non-invasive equipment. In a constant search through a reflexive mode for new images of interior landscapes, they consider the world the studio and host: they do not go to a place to tell a story – they go to a place to find its story. To perform in these thresholds where the visible blends with the invisible, they have developed a psychogeographical method to activate memory and uncover layers of information and imagery stored in the human body, psyche, spirit, and non-human environment. Since then, they have produced three feature-length films, a silent film, a trilogy of shorts, two shorts and numerous interview series and art videos. In 2020, they published "Poetics of Relations: Manifesto on Performance-Based Filmmaking".
• REFLECTING WOUNDS

  BY FRANKO B

  "As always, I am not interested in just telling my story. I tap and share the story told and untold of our humanity, which I live through witnessing these present times—for I’m here, in this space, and not alone. This performance is a journey through personal and collective memories and history. The body and the artist’s body become a canvas, a sculpture, poetry, and a sound, too"
• SATIATING THE SENSES: DINING ON NOTIFICATION

  BY SARA KOSTIC

  Concept delves into the notion of notifications and social media becoming our sustenance, our daily food, and a captivating addiction that consumes our lives, shedding light on our modern habits and obsessions. Performance challenges our reliance on technology and explores the impact on our senses. Breaking 12 plates symbolizes a year and time passed in our digital dependencies. Background notification soundscape reminds us of the constant stream of information we face daily, while the dripping water represents emotional complexity and the paradox of our insatiable thirst for connection. The performance prompts reflection on our relationship with technology, its effect on sensory experiences, and the content we consume. Through broken plates, notification noises, and dripping water, it calls for deeper, more meaningful connections and conscious consumption.
• SF APOCALYPSE

  BY LA POCHA NOSTRA

  In 2020, Gomez-Peña was invited to a toxic waste site right in the periphery of San Francisco that a group of anarchists had occupied during pandemia and turned it into an art space. The place includes a bunch of abandoned train wagons, an old Hells Angels clubhouse and a native plants garden curated by a powerful Lakota couple. It is an astonishing place. He joined the raggedy collective right away. And asked his long-time collaborator filmmaker Gustavo Vazquez if he was interested in making a film there. He invited Lalo Obregon, one of the original cameramen of Jodorowsky(El Topo, Fando y Lis and La Montaña Sagrada)...and together they put out a call: 25 performance artists, dancers and musicians showed up. The result is a half hour performance movie, a utopian/dystopian project titled “SF Apocalypse,” commenting on the collapse of the creative city. Performance film was their salvation during pandemia. The films they make are quick and dirty, and self produced. They edit them at Gomez-Peña’s kitchen table. It's like returning to the origins of underground cinema; an old Chicano motto from Gustavo Vasquez. “Minimum budget, maximum quality".
• SIN∞FIN – PERFORMANCES AT THE CORE OF THE LOOKING-GLASS

  BY VESTANDPAGE

  2010 VestAndPage inspired a new experimental and ecological performance-based film production method. Theirs are complexly layered film works that move in the realms of magic realism, through which they examine the evolution from original documentation of performative acts toward contextual, non-linear storytelling. Their films are produced on-site as direct and visceral performances, which are not rehearsed or staged and happen in response to extreme environments. Stenke and Pagnes usually work alone or with a small team of collaborators and use minimal non-invasive equipment. In a constant search through a reflexive mode for new images of interior landscapes, they consider the world the studio and host: they do not go to a place to tell a story – they go to a place to find its story. To perform in these thresholds where the visible blends with the invisible, they have developed a psychogeographical method to activate memory and uncover layers of information and imagery stored in the human body, psyche, spirit, and non-human environment. Since then, they have produced three feature-length films, a silent film, a trilogy of shorts, two shorts and numerous interview series and art videos. In 2020, they published "Poetics of Relations: Manifesto on Performance-Based Filmmaking". VestAndPage's first film trilogy, "sin∞fin", presents three medium-length art films of collaborative performances in epic locations worldwide. Teetering between the real and the visionary, these films feature the artists undertaking surreal and ephemeral acts. Amplified by the unfamiliar environments, the performances reflect on universal human experiences such as altruism, partnership and the transient nature of existence. Episode #1, "Performances at the End of the World," set in Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego (2010), thematically focuses on the microcosm and intimate domain of the individual and the couple. Episode #2, "Performances at the Holy Centre," located in Uttarakhand, Delhi & Kashmir (2011), highlights the topic of society and religion. The concluding episode, "Performances at the Core of the Looking-Glass," filmed in Antarctica (2012), engages through narratives on nature and the universe with the macrocosm. The artists' actions evolve in direct response to the surroundings in which they find themselves. The camera records what possible spectators would view, yet the movie is not a documentary. Instead, the works are pieced together organically, forming an autonomous story generated through the process of making it to be read by each viewer in a personal way.
• SIN∞FIN – PERFORMANCES AT THE END OF THE WORLD

  BY VESTANDPAGE

  2010 VestAndPage inspired a new experimental and ecological performance-based film production method. Theirs are complexly layered film works that move in the realms of magic realism, through which they examine the evolution from original documentation of performative acts toward contextual, non-linear storytelling. Their films are produced on-site as direct and visceral performances, which are not rehearsed or staged and happen in response to extreme environments. Stenke and Pagnes usually work alone or with a small team of collaborators and use minimal non-invasive equipment. In a constant search through a reflexive mode for new images of interior landscapes, they consider the world the studio and host: they do not go to a place to tell a story – they go to a place to find its story. To perform in these thresholds where the visible blends with the invisible, they have developed a psychogeographical method to activate memory and uncover layers of information and imagery stored in the human body, psyche, spirit, and non-human environment. Since then, they have produced three feature-length films, a silent film, a trilogy of shorts, two shorts and numerous interview series and art videos. In 2020, they published "Poetics of Relations: Manifesto on Performance-Based Filmmaking". VestAndPage's first film trilogy, "sin∞fin", presents three medium-length art films of collaborative performances in epic locations worldwide. Teetering between the real and the visionary, these films feature the artists undertaking surreal and ephemeral acts. Amplified by the unfamiliar environments, the performances reflect on universal human experiences such as altruism, partnership and the transient nature of existence. Episode #1, "Performances at the End of the World," set in Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego (2010), thematically focuses on the microcosm and intimate domain of the individual and the couple. Episode #2, "Performances at the Holy Centre," located in Uttarakhand, Delhi & Kashmir (2011), highlights the topic of society and religion. The concluding episode, "Performances at the Core of the Looking-Glass," filmed in Antarctica (2012), engages through narratives on nature and the universe with the macrocosm. The artists' actions evolve in direct response to the surroundings in which they find themselves. The camera records what possible spectators would view, yet the movie is not a documentary. Instead, the works are pieced together organically, forming an autonomous story generated through the process of making it to be read by each viewer in a personal way.
• SIN∞FIN – PERFORMANCES AT THE HOLY CENTRE

  BY VESTANDPAGE

  2010 VestAndPage inspired a new experimental and ecological performance-based film production method. Theirs are complexly layered film works that move in the realms of magic realism, through which they examine the evolution from original documentation of performative acts toward contextual, non-linear storytelling. Their films are produced on-site as direct and visceral performances, which are not rehearsed or staged and happen in response to extreme environments. Stenke and Pagnes usually work alone or with a small team of collaborators and use minimal non-invasive equipment. In a constant search through a reflexive mode for new images of interior landscapes, they consider the world the studio and host: they do not go to a place to tell a story – they go to a place to find its story. To perform in these thresholds where the visible blends with the invisible, they have developed a psychogeographical method to activate memory and uncover layers of information and imagery stored in the human body, psyche, spirit, and non-human environment. Since then, they have produced three feature-length films, a silent film, a trilogy of shorts, two shorts and numerous interview series and art videos. In 2020, they published "Poetics of Relations: Manifesto on Performance-Based Filmmaking". VestAndPage's first film trilogy, "sin∞fin", presents three medium-length art films of collaborative performances in epic locations worldwide. Teetering between the real and the visionary, these films feature the artists undertaking surreal and ephemeral acts. Amplified by the unfamiliar environments, the performances reflect on universal human experiences such as altruism, partnership and the transient nature of existence. Episode #1, "Performances at the End of the World," set in Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego (2010), thematically focuses on the microcosm and intimate domain of the individual and the couple. Episode #2, "Performances at the Holy Centre," located in Uttarakhand, Delhi & Kashmir (2011), highlights the topic of society and religion. The concluding episode, "Performances at the Core of the Looking-Glass," filmed in Antarctica (2012), engages through narratives on nature and the universe with the macrocosm. The artists' actions evolve in direct response to the surroundings in which they find themselves. The camera records what possible spectators would view, yet the movie is not a documentary. Instead, the works are pieced together organically, forming an autonomous story generated through the process of making it to be read by each viewer in a personal way.
• SOLA

  BY MARTA JOVANOVIC

  SOLA reflects on experiences of loneliness and isolation but also on solidarity and the hope that holds out against them. The artist’s hair, growing since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, becomes a symbol for the loss of physical contact that our lives became marked by. With the act of braiding being an act of sisterly companionship and consolidation, the artist has to execute it alone. What is more, in SOLA the hair becomes a marker of time, having grown through the numerous crises that marked the past years with the eruption of violence all over the globe and in particular against women.
• STRATA

  BY VESTANDPAGE

  A film of philosophical, poetic action, STRATA blends film and performance art to explore the fascinating history of caves as sites of knowledge-making and art creation. Through interdisciplinary processes, artists and researchers investigate the connection between the human body and the geological depth of subsurface environments. The project focuses on the prehistoric caves of the Swabian Jura, where Ice Age humans sought shelter and created the oldest known examples of human figurative sculptures. The caves are the symbiotic realms to dance between embodiment and scrutiny, the unseen and the unforeseen, the oppressed and unspoken, the forgotten and the repressed. Coming together to look into the river of human civilisation and to share what they had found, the artists irradiate concepts of time, ecological intelligence and politics through performances for the camera. The film pinholes a perspective on a world where art, science and multiple perspectives nourish each other in co-creative processes. Nestled inside the dark subsurfaces of the land, the artists confront romantically distorted images of nature and naturalness to dismantle consolidated narratives and aesthetics. The human body and stratified societies are tied in continuity to the geological, beheld through a lens of queer ecology.
• THE BEGINNING (LIGHT)

  BY NICOLA FORNONI

  "A feather is very light, but when there are many, it is complicated to move them just by breathing. 3 is the perfect number—a symbol of vitality. I blow on 3 kg of white feathers and invite you to join me. Our breaths will meet between order and disorder, help and obstacle." - Nicola Fornoni.
• THE CHRONICLES OF ANACHORET: “I HAVE NOWHERE TO GO”

  BY SALT SALOME AND MAX SVITLO

  The Chronicles of Anachoret is an experimental film at the intersection of mimodrama, expanded cinema, and philosophical reflection on war, memory, and displacement. It continues the narrative of the previous movie “Synumeru - soniakh”, where the shock of catastrophe fractures time, dissolving linearity and pushing the protagonists into a state of post-traumatic delirium. In The Chronicles of Anachoret, we move from the immediacy of destruction to a phase of wandering — a psychological and existential exile. The protagonist, a hermit (anachoret), is caught in a fluid, deformed reality where past and future blur under the false appearance of the present. The “lost ones” who appear along the way are both refugees of war and phantoms of memory, coexisting in a reality shaped by fragmentation and disorientation. They move through symbolic landscapes—snow-covered roads, frozen rivers, ephemeral shelters—metaphors for instability, impermanence, and the search for meaning in the aftermath of catastrophe.
• THE DAY NUMBER 16

  BY ALEKSANDER ZAIN

  Performance turns a regular medical ritual performed by an artist in his private life into an action, representing the continuing process of repetitive life events that also shape us as people (and there is a question about how much we let them shape us?). This is a story of personal saviour, solitude, inner thoughts colliding, transition, mental and physical health, strength, and ultimately, an interest in how we can turn a forever occurring event into an artistic ritual.
• THE SCAR

  BY FARIDA YESMIN (FKA KAJOLI ILOJAK)

  I was 6 years old when my whole world crumbled down as a result of a serious car accident. I nearly lost my arm but, fortunately, a year of hospital treatment rescued it. Even though my arm was saved, the accident left a big, ugly scar that drew everyone's attention: people would look at me with pity, and other children shunned my company out of fear or repulsion. It became impossible for me to form friendships or close bonds. I would hide in the corners, away from other people… As a consequence, I found comfort in sitting with a pencil and paper, drawing anything that would come to my mind. Drawing became an addiction for me, as it brought me peace and solace. From this young age, I remained a loner. In my early 20s, then, I met the person who would become my future husband, who was also involved in the arts. I thought he understood me but, unfortunately, after marriage, it became apparent that I remained a victim of my childhood scar. We divorced. And, again, I kept on drawing to maintain my sanity. Although the scar brought me social ostracism, through my drawing practice, it also opened for me a world of creativity, contentment and balance. Up to these days, I know that most Bangladeshi people haven’t changed their attitude towards my scar, but I have learnt to ignore it as my art and creativity have given me the tools to build a different world for myself - a world of hope and bliss.
• THE STRUGGLE FOR VISIBILITY

  BY NOLI KAT

  When you are housebound, you become mainly invisible to the world. Unable to participate in the daily activities that happen outside the door of your home, it is easy to start feeling like you don’t exist. In The Struggle for Visibility, the artist attempts to become part of the outside world. They are covered in a golden silk sheet and stay close to the ground to represent their ongoing separate reality as chronically ill. In the public space, they become hyper-visible whilst remaining largely hidden from view. In their dreams of belonging to the outside world, they desperately try to overcome all the barriers it poses. In the last attempt to become more visible, they climb the highest stairs in the busiest part of town, but they find that this is too much to ask of their fragile body. Also, it does not lead to the meaningful social engagement they had wished for. Instead, they end up alone, exhausted by the effort of trying. For sick and disabled bodies to become more visible in public spaces, we need societies to adapt to our needs rather than push ourselves to become more visible to society.  
• THESE TEEMING FORMS

  BY JOSEPH MORGAN SCHOFIELD

  ‘these teeming forms’ was shot on England’s South Pennine Moorland in a breath between lockdowns in 2021. These windswept hills formed Joseph’s adolescent horizon and they have returned there in adulthood, walking out into the land holding grief, seeking connection. The film has a sensate and mythic quality; performance actions to camera are collaged with cyanotype printing processes of analogue photography, speculative texts and an original score. The wet, wily moorland contains large peat deposits, produced over thousands of years as normative processes of decomposition are frustrated by the great quantity of water that falls on the hills. The peat is a collage of animal and plant matter, minerals and weather. Like the body, the land is an archive. The film is framed by an interview with the artist’s father, who speaks of his own remembrance of a haunting adolescent encounter many decades previously. Queer ecologes are imagined here as a process of wilding, of entering the land and being opened by it. Memory and desire, history and loss, future and fantasy become porous, contributing to a textural and sensate meditation on living. these teeming forms was commissioned by ]performance s p a c e[ and supported using public funds by Arts Council England.