Program
Exhibitions
Body + Camera 2019: The Un/Certain Body
![Still from Rossina Bossio, <em>Ruins,</em> 2017. Photo: Courtesy of artist](https://www.manacontemporary.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/mana-contemporary_body-camera-2019-the-un-certain-body_C.08-Ruins-1200x801.jpg)
In partnership with Chicago Dancemakers Forum and Montom Arts, Body + Camera presents a broad spectrum of contemporary work in experimental, dance, and performance film, and includes special thematic screenings. This dynamic forum celebrates the intersection between the moving body and the moving image, focusing on risk-taking and independent artists, and featuring contemporary experimental projects that stretch mediums to their edge.
2018’s submissions, which span more than 25 countries of origin, convey an uncertain mood; underlying many of them are dilemmas around the context, purpose, and boundaries of the human form. These works illuminate some of the ways in which we struggle to understand corporeal existence in the context of a fluctuating world shaped by mercurial technologies, political absurdity, and grave environmental shifts. It is from within and without the boundaries of this complex reality that this year’s event finds its sentiment and title: The Un/Certain Body.
Featuring more than forty short films by emerging and established artists from around the world, Body + Camera will travel to Mana Contemporary Miami and Chicago later this year.
THEATER SCREENINGS
11AM–5PM, Mana Theater
Public Places, Private Worlds
Films that navigate private lives in public spaces and distort the physical form of everyday reality.
![](http://www.manacontemporary.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/mana-contemporary_body-camera-2019-the-un-certain-body_PPPW.04-Platform-13-1024x577.jpg)
This Is How We Do It
In these films, bodies form communities.
![](http://www.manacontemporary.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/mana-contemporary_body-camera-2019-the-un-certain-body_TIHWDI.06-Rhizophora-copy.jpg)
JAN PIETER TUINSTRA (THE NETHERLANDS), OTHERLAND
Run time: 13 min., 30 sec.
Based on the life of Elvin Elejandro Martinez, Otherland follows a vogue dancer who performs at a voodoo carnival ball in which he must gain the acceptance of the local ballroom community.
ANDREA RÜTHEL AND SUSANNA BERIVAN (GERMANY), LIKE
Run time: 4 min., 50 sec.
An exercise in learning language through imitation. Sound forms and loses itself, becomes a word, a term, an attempt to participate.
BENJAMIN BUXTON (ILLINOIS), ON THE RINK
Run time: 10 min., 2 sec.
The Rink in Southside Chicago has been home to a vibrant community of rollerskating enthusiasts for more than forty years. Benjamin Buxton’s portrait conveys their boundless energy.
BARAN CHERAGHIPOUR (IRAN), COCOON
Run time: 13 min., 36 sec.
A film about knowing yourself and emerging from your cocoon.
¿CHE.NE.SO? (GERMANY), RHIZOPHORA
Run time: 16 min., 14 sec.
Dancing between waking and dreaming, Rhizophora follows a day through the eyes of eleven young residents of the Friendship Village in Vietnam who are living with disabilities caused by Agent Orange.
SHON KIM (SOUTH KOREA), BOOKANIMA: DANCE
Run time: 7 min., 31 sec.
Bookanima is an experimental animation technique that uses chronophotography to give books new life. Bookanima: Dance, the project’s second chapter, incorporates aerial silk, aerobics, ballet, breakdance, disco, jazz dance, Korean dance, modern dance, social dance, and tap.
Communing
Eight films that explore our ongoing search for physical intimacy with nature.
![](http://www.manacontemporary.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/mana-contemporary_body-camera-2019-the-un-certain-body_C.08-Ruins-1024x684.jpg)
RAFEL ARNAL (SPAIN), FERRAN
Run time: 3 min., 7 sec.
A filmic portrait in which shots of a buried body emerging from a mound of earth, dragging itself along the edge of an irrigation ditch, and lying down on the edge of an orchard are layered atop one another, each action describing an episode in the performer’s life.
ROSSINA BOSSIO (COLOMBIA), RUINS
Run time: 3 min., 7 sec.
A group of dancers moves through a surreal landscape of dust and stone. Through sound, movement, and magical atmosphere, Ruins unveils the beauty of chaos and celebrates the uncertainty of life.
ELLEN MUELLER (MINNESOTA), CRUNCHING
Run time: 2 min., 25 sec.
Made during a residency at Playa Artist Residency in Oregon, this film is set on the edge of a lake that dries up every summer due to commercial irrigation, depicting textures that reflect a strained relationship between natural processes and human exploitation.
CHENGLONG TANG (CHINA), GATHA
Run time: 15 min., 49 sec.
Gatha tells the story of two Tibetan brothers’ pilgrimage to Mount Kangrinboqe, or Mount Kailash, during which the elder brother dies. When the younger brother finally arrives at the Holy Land, alone, he is grieving but fulfilled, and his journey continues as a new cycle of life begins.
CHARLIE FORD (CALIFORNIA), IMITATION OF A ROCK
Run time: 4 min.
A camera captures a humorous intimate interaction between a body and a rock.
CHEN JIEXIAO (SINGAPORE), INDIGNANCE
Run time: 5 min., 58 sec.
At a moment of personal transition, a dancer heads for his favorite sanctuary from the rain.
DULCEE BOEHM (ILLINOIS), KNEAD/NEED
Run time: 4 min., 41 sec.
The simple action of kneading bread emphasizes the connection between our bodies and the landscape.
JAIME WHITBY (UNITED KINGDOM), AN ISLE FULL OF NOISES
Run time: 3 min., 45 sec.
A custom-built drone-mounted lighting system illuminates this modern take on an extract from The Tempest, narrated by David Oyelowo. An Isle Full of Noises was originally broadcast in the UK by Channel 4, as part of its experimental film strand Random Acts.
Choreography of the Camera: The Camera as an Instrument of Movement, Abstraction, and Dance
Curated by Chicago Film Archives, a regional film archive dedicated to identifying, collecting, preserving, and providing access to films that represent the Midwest.
![](http://www.manacontemporary.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/mana-contemporary_body-camera-2019-the-un-certain-body_Janiak_LifeFilm_01.png)
LARRY JANIAK WITH ROBERT STIEGLER AND JEFFREY PASCO, LIFE AND FILM
Run time: 4 min., 30 sec.
A collaborative film conceived as a ‘picture postcard,’ the moving images recorded by the camera mirroring the card’s picture side, the sound track evoking its written message. Life and Film is a lyrical look at some Chicago filmmakers on their way to the Michigan sand dunes.
ROBERT STIEGLER, CAPITULATION
Run time: 22 min.
Capitulation uses negative film stock, multiple exposures, and rapid editing to construct fluid layers of movement through urban Chicago. Merging abstraction with the documentation of everyday experience, it explores light and film as materials.
BYRON GRUSH, CIRCLES
Run time: 8 min., 30 sec.
A film about circles that begins with a roll of film. Circles was made during Byron’s studies with Frank Barsotti and Ken Josephson at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
BYRON GRUSH, LES PRELUDES
Run time: 16 min.
An imagist “musical” set to Liszt’s Les Preludes that incorporates manipulated color, multiple exposures, and seemingly unrelated images, with references to Les Chants de Maldoror, an early Surrealist novel by Comte de Lautrémont, and the Flash Gordon serials.
LARRY JANIAK, ADAMS FILM
Run time: 11 min., 30 sec.
Adams Film is a visual collage combining live action footage with abstract images and textures drawn onto 16mm film stock. The soundtrack consists of tape loops, while the live action footage captures scenes from a Chicago Earth Day parade and a Janiak family gathering.
Young Voices
A selection of films by artists under 25, curated by Sophia Wolfe, Artistic Director of Festival Of Recorded Movement (F-O-R-M)
![](http://www.manacontemporary.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/mana-contemporary_body-camera-2019-the-un-certain-body_YV.12-White-Fox-Archetype-__-Graveyard-Shift.png)
COURTNEY KEHR (PENNSYLVANIA), MY BODY HER SKIN
Run time: 3 min.,19 sec.
My Body Her Skin is based on the artist’s poem about her singular relationship with her mother, whose hand-me-down clothing embodies memories to which the artist gives new life.
CARLA CASTLE (SINGAPORE), TO BE FL;WD
Run time: 1 min., 17 sec.
A short, experimental stop motion film responding to the stubborn popularity of plastic surgery. As humans, we are defined by our flaws, and in trying to “correct” them, we expose and trap ourselves still further.
GABRIELLA ENGDAHL (SWEDEN), DO YOU KNOW WHAT TIME IT IS RIGHT NOW?
Run time: 13 min.
Through a combination of witty text and images of everyday movement, Do you know what time it is right now? explores our uneven perception of the passage of time.
KAYANA WALLER (NORTH CAROLINA), AMINA (I’M STILL HERE)
Run time: 2 min., 49 sec.
A jaded dancer envisions a space to call her own.
ABBEY SACKS (WASHINGTON), WHITE FOX ARCHETYPE // GRAVEYARD SHIFT
Run time: 2 min., 44 sec.
A dance film that uses dance, animation, and projection to capture the essence of a song by White Fox Archetype.
SARAH PRINZ (CALIFORNIA), WAIT
Run time: 6 min., 58 sec.
A queer film about the cyclical nature of codependency that explores intimate moments in which we define our identities through another person, and must dismantle it to start over.
TOBI AREMU (NEW YORK), NEGOTIATION
Run time: 6 min., 30 sec.
A physical exploration of black masculinity.
AARON JACKSON (FLORIDA), BLCK
Run time: 2 min., 31 sec.
A glimpse into the realities of our justice system, Blck highlights the overwhelming prejudice faced by people of color.
RALPH ESCAMILLAN (CANADA), FAUX SOLO
Run time: 3 min., 28 sec.
Empty space, a human body, and eight articles of clothing. Faux Solo explores the interplay between body, sound, clothing, and space.
JAMIE ROBINSON (CANADA), SPACEMAN’S WORD FOR IRRITATING DISTURBANCES
Run time: 6 min., 29 sec.
A film that questions out mutable relationship with technology, pointing out its flaws and failures.
DARIA MIKHAYLYUK (CANADA), CHAPTER 21
Run time: 3 min., 8 sec.
“There’s no greater misfortune in the world than the loss of reason.”—Mikhail Bulgakov, The Master and Margarita
MUTI MUSAFIRI (UNITED KINGDOM), ENIGMATIC FABRIC
Run time: 3 min., 8 sec.
Enigmatic: ˌɛnɪɡˈmatɪk/, difficult to interpret or understand; mysterious. Fabric: ˈfabrɪk/, synonyms: structure, framework, frame, form, make-up, constitution, composition, construction, organization, infrastructure, foundations, mechanisms, anatomy, essence
BSMT SCREENINGS AND INSTALLATIONS
5–10PM, Mana BSMT
Hysterical Aggression and the End of Things
A suite of films confronting the anxieties surrounding societal expectations of gender norms and a selection of films that navigate transition, loss, death, and decay
![](http://www.manacontemporary.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/mana-contemporary_body-camera-2019-the-un-certain-body_HA.09-To-the-Ends-of-the-Fingertips-1024x683.jpg)
MARLOES TEN BHÖMER (UNITED KINGDOM), ANNABELLE, BARBRA, BECKY, ALEXIS, KRYSTLE, ELLEN, OLIVE, EVE AND KIRSTEN, NOT STUMBLING, SLIDING, SINKING, FALLING OR OBLIVIOUS
Run time: 5 min.
A video that questions contemporary social constructs of femininity through a historical taxonomy of cinematic moments in which women are stymied by high heels—to suspenseful, dramatic, comedic, or other effect—repurposing certain elements as an obstacle course.
VICTORIA DONNET (FRANCE), I AM FINE
Run time: 4 min.
A short film about the relationship between our inner lives and our facial expressions. When we say “I’m fine,” what are we really communicating? Perhaps nothing other than “I’m alive.”
JAKKRAPAN SRIWICHAI (THAILAND), PHIMABONG
Run time: 9 min., 46 sec.
Phimabong flickers between daydream and nightmare in its mysterious tale of two men who spend the day in a rainforest cabin.
ERYKA DELLENBACH (NEW YORK), HELD OVER SHORE
Run time: 3 min.
Shot on old 16mm film, Held Over Shore is a poem on masculine mystique from a woman’s perspective. Mining the early stages of a collaboration between artists Matty Davis and Ben Gould, it is driven in part by the energy of Gould’s Tourette Syndrome.
ROSWITHA CHESHER (UNITED KINGDOM), TO THE ENDS OF THE FINGERTIPS
Run time: 4 min., 30 sec.
Slipping through the fingers of time, we follow a search for freedom and fulfillment in this richly surreal tale.
CAT MAHARI (ILLINOIS), IMPRINTS & TRACES
Run time: 4 min., 30 sec.
Imprints & Traces follows two empathic scientist-activists from “the AfroFuture” who discover the final records of Kansas City, Missouri, and encounter traces of anti-blackness, sexual disparity, capitalism, and genocide.
NIKITA MAHESHWARY (THE NETHERLANDS), EVE TEASING
Run time: 1 min., 45 sec.
Part of the ongoing short film series SitaaurGita, Eve Teasing captures an ordinary day in the lives of women on the streets of India as they brave sexual harassment (the “teasing” of the title), capturing states and reactions that range from caution and vigilance to sickness and fear.
HUGO LJUNGBÄCK (SWEDEN), FOR HIS SAKE; FOR HIS PLEASURE
Run time: 3 min., 28 sec.
In For His Sake; For His Pleasure, the artist explores the coercion experienced by teens and younger gay men to pose for and send nude selfies. Contains nudity.
FRANCESCA FINI (ITALY), FAIR & LOST
Run time: 5 min.
Wearing electrostimulators set to maximum, Francesca Fini attempts to apply makeup while involuntary muscular contractions sparked by the electric shocks cause it to spread across her face, and a conflict between conscious behavior and social conditioning is poised to erupt.
JOHANNES GIERLINGER (AUSTRIA), A SUBSEQUENT FULFILLMENT OF A PREHISTORIC WISH
Run time: 9 min., 10 sec.
A film about the accidental death of a female artist. A narrator, connected to the subject through layers of ritual, searches for her and a lost artwork, but finds nothing more than broken memories.
SCOTTY HARDWIG (VIRGINIA), OUR LAST ARIA
Run time: 7 min., 13 sec.
Filmed on location in the Eureka dunes of Death Valley, our last aria tracks a duet dance for film by American dance artist Scotty Hardwig, performed by Keanu Forrest Brady and James Mario Bowen. Two figures traverse a kinetic and emotional landscape in a desert wilderness.
DAGMAR DACHAUER (AUSTRIA), COMPETING FOR SUNLIGHT: ASH
Run time: 4 min., 43 sec.
A melancholy ode to an endangered species set to music by Tom Waits. “The death of a species, especially a species as significant as the ash, punches a hole not only in nature, but also in our culture.”—George Monbiot
BERNHARD JOHANNES SCHMITT (SINGAPORE), FOSSILES
Run time: 30 sec.
A human skull finds its true love in ballet.
MARTA DI FRANCESCO (UNITED KINGDOM), JANUS
Run time: 2 min., 45 sec.
A poetic work named for the two-faced god of transitions, doorways, and new beginnings. Janus explores the effect of time on identity. In periods of transition, a sensitivity to presence is vital; we are at the threshold of a new era that will be defined by our ability to learn from the past.
HAISI HU (NEW YORK), NEW YORK AFTER RAIN
Run time: 5 min., 53 sec.
New York After Rain explores the moment before death through the protagonist’s feelings of longing, fear, and numbness. In this strikingly alien life, only pain can awaken love for the world.
CARLOS ALBERTO RODRÍGUEZ (SPAIN), THE OLD THRESHING FLOOR OF HORCAJO. A PLACE OF MEMORY AND DANCE
Run time: 19 min., 13 sec.
A documentary that allegorizes an almost-forgotten site.
BSMT Nights Installations
5–10PM, Mana BSMT
![](http://www.manacontemporary.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/mana-contemporary_body-camera-2019-the-un-certain-body_AOV.04-Rockhaven-Creepers-Trilogy.jpg)
JILLIAN MAYER (FLORIDA), DAY OFF 1
Run time: 1 min., 56 sec.
BENJAMIN BUXTON (ILLINOIS), ON THE RINK
Run time: 10 min., 2 sec.
The Rink in Southside Chicago has been home to a vibrant community of rollerskating enthusiasts for more than forty years. Benjamin Buxton’s portrait conveys their boundless energy.
ELIZABETH LEISTER (CALIFORNIA), ROCKHAVEN CREEPERS TRILOGY
Run time: 9 min., 52 sec.
Inspired by Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s novel The Yellow Wallpaper (1932), Rockhaven Creepers uses 360-degree video to bring the viewer into the space of the abandoned Rockhaven Sanitarium. Each room is inhabited by a dancer, who uses movement to embody the various “nervous disorders” considered particular to women when the book first appeared.
ROSSINA BOSSIO (COLOMBIA), RUINS
Run time: 5 min., 42 sec.
A group of dancers moves through a surreal landscape filled with dust and stone. Through sound, movement, and magical atmosphere, Ruins unveils the beauty of chaos and celebrates the uncertainty of life.
CHAMECKILERNER (NEW YORK), SAMBA #2
Run time: 3 min., 4 sec.
In Samba #2, choreographers Rosane and Andrea subvert the cliché of the samba, using the tight-on-the-hips framing characteristic of mainstream Brazilian TV to create an unsettling “dance of the flesh” in which the material body becomes a disorienting landscape.
ERIKA ROUX (THE NETHERLANDS), PSYCHE AND CUPID
Run time: 5 min., 15 sec.
An attempt to recreate a detail of Antonio Canova’s marble sculpture Psyche Revived by Cupid’s Kiss. Erika Roux chooses her father and his girlfriend to re-enact the image of Psyche offering her soul to love, but her aim is never satisfactorily achieved.