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And a voice said: "Hope comes in many forms, but for tonight, you're on your own."
Tim Leyendekker (1973,The Netherlands) studied fine arts at the Willem de Kooning Academy (Rotterdam)
and at the Sandberg Institute (Amsterdam). He works as an artist, filmaker and curator
What does it take to become a woman, to be a woman, to stay a woman? Difficult questions - not only women do know that. But help is at hand: Divas of the silver screen show us the way. Icons of the movies speak out on longings and fear, love and hate, and the search for female identity. They let us participate in their passion, their happiness and their tears, and their assertiveness. A movie without men? Almost without men.
Prof. Dr. Harald Schleicher, is a film maker and writer, head of the film class at the Academy of Visual Arts in Mainz, Germany.
The video The Mad Masters consists of different sequences recorded during a celebrity impersonator and look-alike convention in Las Vegas. The protagonists of the video are professionals as well prospective impersonators. The title refers to the documentary 'Les Maitre Fous' (1955) by Jean Rouch, which is about a ceremony of a religious sect, the Hauka, widespread in West Africa from the 1920s to the 1950s. During this ritual the Hauka entered trance and were possessed by various spirits associated with the Western colonial powers: the governor-general, the engineer, the doctor's wife, the wicked major, the corporal of the guard.
"There are known knowns… things we know that we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say, there are things that we now know we don’t know. But there are also unknown unknowns… things we do not know we don’t know” - Don Rumsfeld
Unknown Unknown(s) is a dialogue between film history and the concept of art as an activistic practice that reaches outside the cinematic screen/space. Iconic characters from classic films including: “Breathless,” “Alphaville,” “The Killing,” and “Sunset Boulevard” engage in a discourse between themselves, the spectator, and post-modern theory through various linguistic devices “imbedded” in the work that confront critical issues of global warming and other subjects. The crucial device in this process is the overt usage of subtitles that are at times similar, slightly altered, or completely different from the original dialogue.
Unknown Unknown(s) is a post-modern comédie tragique featuring a soundtrack by the electronic experimental duo Matmos.
I produced this film in 2007 with a group of a cappella singers. In the aftermath of this event, it is unsettling to view the contrasted and stylized performance of Man in the Mirror. I invite viewers to read, experience, and re-signify how this score relates to this event, to contemporary life today, and most importantly, to themselves.
Davis was born in Pittsburgh. She lives and works in Brooklyn. Her work is rooted in the relationships that she develops with her subjects, ranging from a community of women living in a residence hall, to a variety of performers (including a choir, tap dancer, Michael Jackson impersonator). Taking the form of photography and video, her work explores obsessions with desire and celebrity, media, commerce, and fame. Davis has had exhibitions in the US and Canada. She has received funding for projects in New York from the Brooklyn Arts Council, the Center for Urban Pedagogy, and the Puffin Foundation.