Flux Film #37, Mike Parr & Peter Kennedy, 1970, US, 1’32”.
A man tries to hide from the camera's gaze. Bit by bit, he creates a manual fade out by concealing his image using sheets of tracing paper stuck onto the lens.
Trypps Number 6 (Malobi), Ben Russell, 2009, US, 12’.
Ben Russell's vision draws on the fascination with shamanism and primitivism of mid-20th century ethnographic cinema. In Trypps Number 6 we witness, in a single take, a contemporary ritual of the inhabitants of the Maroon village of Malobi (Suriname, South America).
10/65 Selbstverstümmelung, Kurt Kren, 1965, Austria, 5’19”.
Recording of a performance by Günter Brus, a key figure in the development of Viennese Actionism. A thick layer of white plaster becomes the mouldable flesh of a writhing, howling body.
Neurodermitis, Kerstin Cmelka, 1998, Austria, 2’.
The skin as a casing. In this simple action, Kerstin Cmelka treats the surface of medicalised body in a relaxing, routine ritual.
NabelFabel, Mara Mattuschka, 1984, Austria, 3’.
Layers of synthetic skin constrict the face of this Austro-Bulgarian filmmaker. In her attempt to free herself from this mask, evocative perforations are left behind like scars.
Schminki 1, 2 + 3, Fiona Rukschcio, 1999, Austria, 8’.
For Judith Butler, gender identity is created through repetition and this short is an example of how females conceal themselves every day.
Bodybuilding, Ursula Pürrer & Hans Scheirl, 1984, Austria, 3’.
A woman's identity is resistible and modifiable. In Bodybuilding, artifice leaves its mark on a genderless body that touches, experiments, plays and enjoys.
Take Off, Gunvor Nelson, 1972, US, 9’13”.
In this classic from the American experimental avant-garde of the West Coast, Gunvor Nelson creates her own particular critique of the objectification of the female body. A stripper challenges the spectator's gaze as she deconstructs in an infinite strip.
