Queer carriers: the double and the repetition

Author：Ana Laura Aláez
[Spain]

Mallorca:
Performer: Magdalena Planas
Camera: Daniel Gerhard Holc
 
Music: “Stillstand” Written and performed by Ascii.disko
Video Edited by: Ana Laura Aláez and Daniel Gerhard Holc

Ana Laura Aláez
 
From the Basque country, is one of the most recognised Spanish contemporary artist. She was invited to contribute to the Spanish Pavilion at the 49th Venice Biennale, 2001. Her early works denote a gradual assimilation of the questions explored by the previous generation, the exponents of “New Basque Sculpture”, but they also introduced corrective elements related to gender perspective by using process-based strategies and materials not traditionally considered sculptural like videos and music.

A Mail Questionnair to Dance Film Directors

Interviewer : Mizuhito Kuroda
 
 
 
Q
Watching those people walking in the streets along with electronic music makes me want to set out to town. I have many questions, but first, please explain about the music. What does this music represent, and what does it mean? To share with the Japanese audience, please send me the lyrics too.
 
A：Ana Laura Aláez
-With Portadoras queer: el doble y la repetición, I try to explore the degrees of rebelliousness in a given representation of plural femaleness via the use of image repetition in parallel with musical repetition. The video is based on a specific track produced in partnership with the electronic music project of the German musician Daniel Holc / Ascii.Disko. We could say it is a music video upside down with the image done first and the music produced afterwards. The refrain “I can’t get away from myself” is like the script. The main structure comprise various chapters with severals performances and narratives that arise in the making. A non ending short film that could be everything at the same time: a drawing, dance performance, art performance, music video, a visual diary. The most important is that all the characters are carriers of no binary identities in perpetual motion. Each one is like a contemporary demiurge: in search of a personal form of expression no matters how many times they fall down constructing themselves.
 
Lyrics of the song:
I can ́t get away from myself / I can ́t get away from myself/And I keep running / running / And the world keeps turning / And I keep running
I ́m running / I ́m running / I ́m running as fast as I can / I ́m running as fast as I can / I ́m running / I ́m running / But I can ́t get away / I can ́t run away/I can ́t get away from myself / I can ́t run away from myself / I ́m riding /I ́m riding as fast as I can / But I can ́t run away / I can ́t get away/
I can ́t run away from myself / I can ́t run away from myself /I can ́t run away from myself / I can ́t run away from myself /And I ́m running / And I ́m riding / The earth keeps spinning / But I can ́t get away from myself / I can ́t get away from myself / I ́m running / I ́m running /The world keeps turning /
But I can ́t get away / I can ́t get away / I can ́t get away /I can ́t get away from myself / I can ́t get away from myself/And I keep running / running / And the world keeps turning / And I keep running

 
Q
As the song goes, "I can't get away from myself" I could see the people's identity in the film intertwined with the cityscape they are walking in. Also, the word and the idea of "queer" are not widely recognised in Japan yet. Are they people who call themselves queer? Or are they "queer" in a different context, for example, in this film? Please tell us about how you handled identity and queerness in your work?
 
A：Ana Laura Aláez
Since I was very young, I didn´t understand the word “normal” because I think everything (body language, vital attitude, how we communicate with the others, etc, etc) is a construction in motion. A lot of society’s problems comes with the stigma of “you are different”. Specially if you are a woman. The concept “queer“ in the video is not only about a sexual concept it is also a positive creative way of blurring masculine and feminine normative borders. I think the art discipline that defines me more is sculpture and I could say that this video is somehow a sculpture in motion. The persons in the video are carriers of the tridimensional things that we don’t see at the first sight. It´s not about closed concepts, it´s about opening them and explores other meanings that helps us to keep on, whatever we do. For example, I´m very glad that you´ve selected my video for a dance festival, because that means that your concept of what is dance is also beyond “normal“.

Inorino/Perspective Folktale

Direction/Produce：Daizo Okauchi
Dance/ Choreography：Chisato Katata
[Japan 2021]

Direction/Produce：Daizo Okauchi
Shooting/Editing:Shinsuke Inoue 
Dance/ Choreography: Chisato Katata
 
Shooting: Shintaro Miyawaki
Act:Su,MikiYuki
VJ:Kouichi Inoue Music:Eri Minamiguchi、Ippen 、Akinori Ikawa、 Daizo Okauchi　
Recording: KxZxO

A Mail Questionnair to Dance Film Directors

Interview : Mizuhito Kuroda
 
 
Q
The film begins in a place like a workshop. I felt a sense of life that only the natives could know, scenery connected to everyday life. It was like seeing foreign films. Where is that workshop-like place? Why did you start your work from that place?
 
A: Daizo Okauchi
The theme of this work is "prayer". We started with a sense of awe and disbelief in the word "prayer". In our modern world based on science, prayer is a word that has lost its presence and sometimes seen as inefficient. But when I think about it, there are no ethnic groups that didn't practice praying. It is something people always need, like food, clothing, and shelter. Perhaps it is part of our instinct as a survival strategy. And if it is was an instinct, I wanted to rethink the effects and possibilities of prayer.
That place is the residence of a modeling artist in a fishing town. He rented one corner of a warehouse belonging to a retailer. He lives with his cat, sleeping behind a thin partition. We shot the film there. What is interesting about this place is that it's still used as a warehouse while he lives in it. A private and semi-public space at the same time, some sculptures and books there belong to no one. In other words, the memories and information of an unspecified number of people are there unorganised. This is a metaphor for a modern mind, where information is scattered and anxiety is always there. In our modern society, we tend to lose our imagination towards things we cannot see. I first photographed that space as a place where I could express the connection between our society and prayer.
 
 
Q
A spectral or divine presence dance around in the second half of your work, 'Inorino/Perspective Folktale'. What kind of beings are they? What kind of facts and research have you gone through to create this character?

A: Daizo Okauchi
To create this film, I interviewed Muslims, Buddhist monks, Christians, Shinto priests, Hindus, and others who pray daily on their thoughts on "prayer". The monk who has been praying for the Fukushima nuclear power plant since the Great East Japan Earthquake on 2011.3.11 used the word "preparedness" to describe his prayers. Another monk said that the prayer was "an ideal world without discrimination or class, hidden from those in power". The Muslims used the word "praising God", but I could see that their prayers enhanced their love towards their fellows and family. The Shinto priest said "peaceful world" and "showing gratitude towards gods and ancestors". This piece is based on such information and came out of a dialogue with Chisato Katata and Shinsuke Inoue. Chisato Katata came up with the costumes and choreography, and Shinsuke Inoue, the photographer, edited and prepared it into a film. In Katata's words, the divine presence in the film "seems to be a collection of prayers, but it is nothing in itself, just like a crystal ball of a fortuneteller". The creation of a world of prayer begins when the green creature representing death, life and cries, approaches the dimension of the white being.
Through creating this work, I have sensed that all the prayers share a goal and are universal. So what is this goal? I expressed it visually in the last scene.

1958 delivery

監督・振付：Elysa WENDI　
制作：City Contemporary Dance Company
[香港　2017年]

Director's comment

Loosely based on the journey of a delivery man carrying the funeral flower board in search of the receiving address from Sheung Wan to Tai Ping Shan Street. The incidental discoveries between the current street textures and old residues are being captured through camera with the sensitivity of absence and presence. Between stillness and movement, the use of still photography and moving image hope to juxtapose the frozen memory and co-existence in between the spaces/gaps. Not attempt to reminiscing but rather to re-imagine through the cracked wall and perhaps an ancient voice could be heard while possible stories could be shared between the spirits and energy of now and the past.
This film proposition is inspired by a photographic book titled Hong Kong Reminiscence1958 by Nagano Shigeichi taken in Hong Kong from 1958-1960.
 
Treatment and film texture:
I would like to incorporate a documentary film approach of observation, interviews and juxtaposition between fiction and non-fiction through movement and photography in this film. The intersection of dance is perhaps embodied through the conversations in between moving and stillness in context to space and time, dancer and environment, objects and its displacement.
Interview with Nagano Shigeichi who is now in his 90-s is one essential part of the film. I hope to connect his memories and voices with the movements created from the film. I imagine the choreography will re-create the spoken memories of Nagano’s in his connection to his 2 years time in Hong Kong from 1958-1960.
Still photography will be explored in a context of motion-like pictures which is one aspect specially treated for this film. Straddling between black an white film with coloured film in sporadic rhythm, the film hope to bring out the duality between past and present, micro and macro intuitively.
The dance will explore gestural movement and motif that re-occurring through out the film in different manifestation.
 
proposed by Elysa Wendi

Disruptions

監督：Felipe Frozza, Rike Flämig
振付：Rike Flämig
[ドイツ　2015]

Felipe Frozza
フェリペ・フロザはベルリン在住、ブラジル人の映像作家。彼は映画や舞台で使われるドキュメンタリーやフィクション作品を製作している。ドキュメンタリーとフィクションの境の領域で活躍する彼は、現実を出発点としながら最後には超現実や不合理に至る物語を描く。サンパウロで国際関係学を修め、現在はベルリンで映画のためにカメラを学ぶ。ヨーロッパ、南アメリカや中東のフェスティバルで作品を発表。
 
 
Rike Flämig
リケ・フレーミッヒはベルリン在住、ポスト共産主義のパフォーマー、振付家。身体を抵抗の道具にパフォーマンスアートとコンテンポラリーダンスの間を行き来している。ドキュメンタリーシアターと公共の場や劇場や映像を使ったサイトスペシフィックな作品を自ら企画している。ヒルデスハイムでパフォーマンスアートを、アムステルダムでコンテンポラリーダンスを学んだ後、ドイツ、東欧、中東で作品を発表。

A Mail Questionnair to Dance Film Directors

Interview : Mizuhito Kuroda

Please tell us about yourself, and what kind of pieces you have made in the past.
 
Rike Flämig : I usually create site specific works and dance performances for theatres and festivals. In Spring 2016 we were invited to hold a collaborative exhibition where we showed photographs and a video installation on the topic of „LAND“ - actually also relating to the realities in Palestine as well as to the former Border within Germany. So for me it´s always about creating images with the body - be it on stage, in a short film or a video installation, often using public space to relate to political context.
 
Felipe Frozza : My work navigates between documentary film, video art and photography. I like to collaborate with dancers, performance artists, musicians and sound artists because of the expertise they have with non verbal communication. I prefer to depart from real existing circumstances rather than trying to recreate them in a studio. In reality everything is given: light, sound, location. You just need to add or extract something here and there and you´re ready to shoot. When you´re including reality in your work you have to develop a good a sense of observation, but also quick decision and spontaneous reactions. That´s why Rike and I can dialogue well while working together. We have a similar approach. Our political interests are also running parallel and, while in the editing room, we are both also fascinated by the different possibilities of telling a story that comes from such “unexpected” footage.
 
 
The film is located in Palestine. To be honest, although we know about Palestine and its conflict with Israel, it is difficult to consider it as a close matter to us living in Japan. Is that also the case in Germany? What were your motives to film a movie in Palestine?
 
Rike Flämig : As we both live in Berlin we often find traces that remind us our city was once separated by a wall which was impossible to cross. I was born in East Germany and the wall was a given reality for me. It was a strong experience to see it fall. Therefore I´m also interested in the walls which are still existing nowadays and in the contexts where they are embedded.
 
Felipe Frozza : From the perspective of a Brazilian who migrated to Germany eight years ago, I see it somehow as a close matter. Since the beginning of my time here I have been very impressed with the engagement that the German society discusses its responsibility for the Second World War and the Shoa (Holocaust). For me there´s a link between that and the way some people here passionately argue about the political developments in Israel and Palestine. As for the reason that motivated me to film in Palestine: in the two trips I had done to the region before the shooting I realized how complex and complicated the whole situation is. It has also been extensively documented by all sorts of media outlets from around the world. Being with Rike there opened a new perspective for me on how to touch the matter. Through dance. And that´s when I convinced myself it was worth doing something about the topic.
 
  
Moves by the dancer seems to be quite abstract, rather than gesture-like or explanatory. How was it choreographed?
 
Rike Flämig : The movements are completely improvised, created from impulses taken from the space, sounds and visuals found on the location. The texture of the marble pieces inspired my feet to move in a certain way. Of course, being in front of a wall that cannot be crossed was triggering very specific sensations and movements. But also simple things like just observing a lizard and how he moved along the wall inspired the creation.
 
 
Before actually going to Palestine for the filming, how detailed was the blueprint? Did you have specific locations in mind?
 
Rike Flämig + Felipe Frozza :When we went to Palestine, we knew we wanted to shoot near the wall as it our trip took place in 2014  which marked the jubilee of 25 years after the fall of the wall in Germany. We were also interested in getting to know more about life in Palestine under the Israeli occupation. We stayed at some friends house in Hebron, a city that has a wall inside itself and where the conflict is visible at every corner. The wall was right at the end of the street where we were living, it was our close neighbour. What looked so aggressive at the beginning ended up becoming part of our daily way home and that´s how we got confident to film in front of it. The second piece of wall that you see in “Disruptions” is at the Aida Refugee Camp near Bethlehem. It´s a much bigger wall. It actually divides Israel from the West Bank. Walking alongside the wall we discovered the spot with the leftovers of a marble factory. From there one could see very clearly how far the wall reaches. So it was clear to us again, that that was the perfect place for the shooting.
 
 
Were the situation which the dancer is seen by the soldier and where the children shows off a rat, intentional? If not, why did you include the cuts in the final print?
 
Rike Flämig + Felipe Frozza : As we chose a spot full of conflict on purpose we knew things like this could happen. Nevertheless we were surprised how short time was left for us to film and how soon the disruptions appeared. It also put us in quite extreme situations and brought us to the limit of knowing how to handle it. We watched the entire footage and soon it became clear that the soldier and the kids with the rat had to be part of it. For us this real life incidents tell a lot about the density of daily life in Palestine and give much more insight into those realities than we could have shared with a made up story or a „beautiful dance video.“
 
 
In the previous interview, you mentioned Palestine now and Berlin in the past experienced similar disruption. Nowadays, the social situation has changed dramatically due to the lockdown and self-quarantine caused by the corona crisis. Do you think that what is happening around the world is the disruption that you tried to capture in this film? Or is it something totaly different? 
 
Rike Flämig: That’s an interesting question. The Corona Crisis is definitely a disruption to the lives we knew before - and a challenge to find new solutions & to invent new ways of being with each other. The Virus itself brings a very different disruption than the context of a dictatorship or an occupation. Nevertheless It struck me to see in an interview of a young man from Bethlehem after the city experienced a Corona related Lock Down. He said something like: "This is normal for us. We are used to this - that from one moment to another we are locked down and then have to deal & to live on with it. Usually there is Lock Down because of the Occupation - now there is a Lock Down because of a Virus." So this made me wonder, if people in the West Bank might be more „trained“ in dealing with harsh decisions that are taken about the context of their lives. This also makes me aware, that the reduction of our Basic Rights of Citizens - no matter in what country and - even because of a Virus - should only be used very short term and very limited - as our Democratic Rights as Citizens are something we fought for and which need urgently to continue healthy and resilient lives.