Emma Portner: A physical dialogue exploring the works of Bacon and Giacometti.

In response to the work of Bacon and Giacometti, the Canadian choreographer and dancer Emma Portner produced a film on the occasion of the exhibition at Fondation Beyeler. Portner’s characteristically complex, sensitive and physical choreography is drawing on the grotesque, the unnatural, and extreme emotionality central to the two artist’s work.

Emma Portner:
'Femme Debout', a movement-based short film is a physical response to the works of visual artists: Francis Bacon and Alberto Giacometti.

Bacon and Giacometti's imagery served as a template for me to explore the impact of abuse and hyper-masculinity, how it thwarts moving freely in life, without casualty from its debilitating influence. Set within a rebellious framework, the movement fights the seemingly overwhelming strength and control of society’s intolerance for the individual. Invisible rooms allow for us to see, but not to reach. The choreography gives a glimpse of the possibilities of freedom, while the confines of the structure prevent us from fully understanding why certain things are beyond our grasp.

Bound by a hyper-masculine culture, women have been traditionally kept from taking up space. Historically, male artists have been mostly responsible for how women are seen - that is, as objects that have been shaped to personify a man's perspective. Consequently, female artists spend much of their already compromised room for work merely refuting false representations. My own experience as a Female Lesbian has been informed by a society contained byaggressive men, and trauma came easily as a by-product of just existing at all. Trying to reclaim freedom as as individual, and as an artist has proven to be a mind bender. Trying to take back a life never experienced ... necessitates invention, and risk, and has led me, and my life in art, to a road paved by my imagination.

In 'Femme Debout', the Francis Bacon inspired "Bull" was my take on speciesism but the two Giacometti-esque characters incited a response. My aim was to send a message, through their movement, about the contradictory relationship between the inferior of a woman, and the outsiders who've memorialized them, specifically through art. Giacometti created his sculpture ‘Femme Debout’ after World War II to portray the anxiety and trauma of those years. In this instance, risky-verticality and unsteady-balancing take a quieter form than that of such striking tallness.

This film in its entirety, is my response to 20th century and male-created visual art works, circa 2018."

Credits:
Director: Emma Portner
DOP: Elliott Sellers
Executive Producers: Evan Dell'Aquila, Barbara Frum, Emma Portner
Producer: Judy Craig
Production Company: Doomsday Entertainment
Choreographer: Emma Portner in collaboration with the dancers
Dancers: Keanu Uchida, Shelby Davis, Jordan Johnson, Martijn Sedgfield, Emma Portner
Masks and Conceptual influence: Beatrice Brown
Co-Commissioned by: Fondation Beyeler
Presented by: The Creator Class
Scoring: Zane Bares
Coloring: Bossi Baker
Sound Design: Travis Lake and Emma Portner
HMU: Alexa French
Costumes: Eckhaus Latta and Dashiell Brahmann
Stage and Build: True Vision Entertainment


fondationbeyeler.ch/bacongiacometti
#BeyelerBaconGiacometti
#FondationBeyeler

свернуть