Kunsthalle Wien

Museumsquartier BABETTE MANGOLTE Booklet #Mangolte 18/12 2016 – 12/2 2017 www.kunsthallewien.at Babette Mangolte In response to which films have influenced her the most, she cites I = EYE Dziga Vertov’s Man with a Movie Camera (1929) and Michael Snow’s Babette Mangolte (*1941) is an Wavelength (1967): “These two films icon of international experimental literally changed my life. The first cinema. From the beginning, her one made me decide to become a early interests focused on the cinematographer, and the desire documentation of the New York art, to see the second one led me to dance, and theatre scene of the New York, where I settled down and 1970s, and above all, on performance eventually made my films.” 1 art. The adaptation of dance and choreography for the media of Babette Mangolte was the film and photography – and the cinematographer for Chantal concomitant question regarding the Akerman’s Jeanne Dielman (1975) and changes this transfer has on an event News From Home (1977), and also for based on the live experience – play Yvonne Rainer’s Lives of Performers a central role in her work. (1972) and Film about a Woman Who... (1974). In 1975, she completed her I = EYE not only presents an array first film What Maisie Knew, which of Mangolte’s film and photo works won the “Prix de la Lumière” at the from the 1970s, but also more Toulon Film Festival in the same year. recent projects, which explore the Subsequently, other significant films historicisation of performance from her filmography include The art, and the differences between Camera: Je or La Camera: I (1977), perceptions of contemporaneity The Cold Eye (My Darling, Be Careful) past and present, as well as (1980), The Sky on Location (1982), conceptualizations of time. All works Visible Cities (1991), and Four Pieces are defined by a visual form that by Morris (1993). innovatively incorporates and reflects on a wide array of influences from Based on Mangolte’s fundamental silent and American experimental film interest in the subjective camera, to feminist film theory. the exhibition at the Kunsthalle Wien follows an experimental approach Babette Mangolte discovered her employing space and time as media. love for cinema in 1960 with the Viewing time, the relation between Nouvelle Vague. In 1964, she was photograph and film, the translation the first woman to be accepted at from one medium to another, and Louis Lumière’s École Nationale the resulting changes in the filmed or de la Photographie et de la photographed event are further crucial Cinématographie in Noisy-le-Grand topics of inquiry. I = EYE is centred near Paris. In 1970, her interest in around film sequences, which are experimental works inspired her to interrupted by acoustic interventions travel to the USA, where she became and projected onto four separate acquainted with the contemporary screens to create a both cinematic avant-garde scene in New York. and choreographic installation.

1 On a comprehensive level, this form Documentation of artistic practice, New York) exemplifies her depiction by sticking stills from her film of presentation enables one “to look at filmic approaches to performances, of complex choreographies. The Camera: Je or La Camera: I what it means to look.”2 The fact that studies of contemporary dance, and onto the faces of the cards. Mangolte’s films reflect the temporal reflections on the way in which the The connections between the separate The slide projection of a selection aspect of the performance and camera claims reality and develops photographs – the possibility of of photographs was also inspired by translate this experience into cinematic its own temporality while filming creating sequences and the resulting the artist’s interest in transferring time is also reflected in the installation movements and people, interchange changes in meaning – is another one medium to another. In this case, which, in a sense, “performs” the films in this presentation. central theme in Mangolte’s oeuvre. the perception of time and movement in their complete length. For the exhibition, she developed are the key aspects. One projection Together, the twelve films provide an Touching IV, an installation consisting shows various photographs from One of the screens shows a variation all-embracing insight into Mangolte’s of a large table with a display of digital plays and performances, while of films and excerpts. These cinematic practice which focuses on prints from her archive of theatre another is dedicated to the relation projections are interspersed with the reflection of the subjective view photographs. Visitors are invited to between colour photography and extracts from soundtracks derived of the camera as opposed to tradi- touch, compare, and rearrange the painting, between fragmented from a selection of films, sound tional identification with the actors. pictures in varying formats, which viewing and reproduction. collages, and Mangolte’s reflections The installation itself also breaks are very different from her photos of on her filmic practice. While the with the established artistic practice dances and performances. Landscapes and History (1997), alternating languages in her films of simultaneously projecting several a series of colour photographs allude to the process of translation, films in one space: instead, all works The focus in this selection is on the artist took in 1986, illustrates the the relation between language, are shown consecutively. However, Richard Foreman’s Ontological- emptiness and vastness of American sound, and imagination defines the since the entire loop is over six hours, Hysteric Theater, its actors, landscapes: a storm over the Grand acoustic level. a complete viewing would be chal- the costumes and sets, and on Canyon, a stormy sky in Montana, lenging. In its totality, the exhibition the performer Stuart Sherman, who a lake in Colorado, a dark sky during The sequence of films were itself resembles a choreography. promoted an abstract performative a sunset in Utah, a hill in the Mojave choreographed especially for the style. In theater, the actor’s Desert. These shots show landscapes exhibition. Beginning with storm The film and sound montage is sup- expression is essential and often of epic dimensions which seem to noises from Mangolte’s film Roof plemented by film stills. These images determines the shooting of a photo. reflect a different concept of time. Piece on the High Line (2011/2012), derive from particular films shown In contrast to the photographs of the score continues with a scene projected on the walls. Spotlights dances and performances, most 1. Mangolte, Babette. “Life in from What Maisie Knew (1975). illuminate them for brief moments, thus of the scenes in Foreman’s pieces Film: Babette Mangolte,” Frieze A collaged soundtrack leads to incorporating them as one part of the full confront one group of actors with Magazine, Issue 117 (September the film (Now) or Maintenant entre performative presentation. another, thus providing a narrative 2008): 38-39. parenthèses (1976), which shows the that enables a connection between activation of various objects but also Photographs of performances by the pictures. Although they represent 2. Mangolte, Babette. “Artist alludes to the temporal structure Trisha Brown and Lucinda Childs different productions, the prints on Statement,” 2013. Features of the medium of film: in the light of illustrate Mangolte’s longstanding the table share common features. in forthcoming book, Babette the projector, events filmed in the dedication to modern dance. Over While examining and rearranging the Mangolte: Selected Writings, past are enlivened in the present. many years, she devoted herself copies, viewers are invited to discover published by Sternberg Press. The installation also includes Water to capturing the one moment that subtle details in the variations. Motor, Steve Paxton at Dia:Beacon, represents the whole movement, The Camera: Je or La Camera: I, and to the relation between time, The transfer of a filmic image to a Patricia Patterson Paintings, Edward space, and image. In this collection photograph and the correspondence Krasiński’s Studio, Visible Cities, of photographic documentation, between the individual pictures Yvonne with Tape, Four Pieces by the famous shots of Trisha Brown’s provides the basis for Play Card Set Morris, and Roof Piece on the High Roof Piece from 1973 (a performance from 1978. For this work, Mangolte Line and Je, Nous, I or Eye, Us. involving dancers on the rooftops of altered a set of playing cards

2 3 Babette Mangolte, Arizona film still Four Pieces by Morris, 1993, © Babette Mangolte, Courtesy of the artist and Broadway 1602 Uptown & Harlem, New York Babette Mangolte, Diptych “Jimi” from “The Camera: Je, La Camera: I”, 1977, © Babette Mangolte, Babette Mangolte, Diptych “Stuart” from “The Camera: Je, La Camera: I”, 1977, © Babette Mangolte, Courtesy of the artist and Broadway 1602 Uptown & Harlem, New York Courtesy of the artist and Broadway 1602 Uptown & Harlem, New York Babette Mangolte, Robert Whitman’s Prune Flat, 1965 (Photo from reconstruction in 1976), © Babette Mangolte, Courtesy of the artist and Broadway 1602 Uptown & Harlem, New York Babette Mangolte, film still Edward Krasiński´s Studio, 2012, © Babette Mangolte, Courtesy of the artist and Broadway 1602 Uptown & Harlem, New York Babette Mangolte, film still The Camera: Je or La Camera: I, 1977, © Babette Mangolte, Courtesy of the artist and Broadway 1602 Uptown & Harlem, New York Babette Mangolte, Site film still from Four Pieces by Morris, 1993, © Babette Mangolte, Courtesy of the artist and Broadway 1602 Uptown & Harlem, New York Babette Mangolte, film still Visible Cities, 1991, © Babette Mangolte, Courtesy of the artist and Broadway 1602 Uptown & Harlem, New York Films It is as though we were watching ourselves being photographed, What Maisie Knew photographed by the screen we are 1975, 16mm, b/w, 58 min. looking at. © Babette Mangolte, Courtesy of the artist and Broadway 1602 Uptown & Water Motor Harlem, New York 1978, 16mm, b/w, 7 min. © Babette Mangolte, Courtesy of the A film about the subjective camera, artist and Broadway 1602 Uptown & a child’s perspective, and a Harlem, New York rereading of the novel of the same name by Henry James. The subject The image fades in. For two seconds, is not reality and its appearance, Trisha Brown stands motionless but its composition through our before she starts dancing her solo perception. Water Motor as fast as flowing water. Her movements are almost too rapid (Now) or Maintenant entre and complex to follow. After the parenthèses dance, Trisha Brown is as motionless 1976, 16mm, colour, 10 min. as she was at the beginning, only now © Babette Mangolte, Courtesy of the she is closer to the camera and the artist and Broadway 1602 Uptown & picture turns to black. Once again, Harlem, New York the picture fades in to show Trisha Brown who performs the same dance, A linear sequence of activities/ but this time in slow motion (recorded manipulations of objects. with 48 frames per second). This Film = now/projected film = (now) new quality of movement enables the viewer to see the details missed The Camera: Je or La Camera: I during the first performance. 1977, 16mm, b/w and colour, 88 min. © Babette Mangolte, Courtesy of the Visible Cities artist and Broadway 1602 Uptown & 1991, 16mm, colour, 31 min. Harlem, New York © Babette Mangolte, Courtesy of the artist and Broadway 1602 Uptown & The film is about the connections Harlem, New York between seeing and the power generated by the act of creating Two women are searching for a house in images. Despite its didactical Southern California. They stand outside intention, the first part of The peering into a detached house which Camera: Je or La Camera: I is reveals itself to be a place of exclusion. rather disconcerting. The viewer is It is also prohibitively expensive. Feeling confronted with photo models who like invisible citizens, they witness the are being filmed and told how to transformation of the architectonic pose. The fear we see on the models’ landscape in the Californian desert faces and bodies (which reflects our into a reversion of nature, where role as viewers) visualizes the fear of exclusive living, gated communities, being more than a mere spectator. and segregation go hand in hand.

Babette Mangolte, Four Pieces by Morris at Guggenheim Museum in 1994, 1994, © Babette Mangolte, Courtesy of the artist and Broadway 1602 Uptown & Harlem, New York 19 They dream of escaping. The film of theatrical time, which, under the improvised movement of a dancer Steve Paxton is shown improvising enlivens the landscape and explores the great influence of John Cage, watched from across rooftops his reactions to works by off-screen presence and subjectivity. was completely rethought during gradually changes through distance Robert Irwin, Fred Sandback, that period in performance history. and fragmented visual axes. The line Richard Serra, Carl Andre, Slide Show Film is a medium based on duration. of dancers runs southwards and Dan Flavin, and John Chamberlain 2010, slide projection, 5 min. Our concept of the length of time, reverses after the second half. at the Dia:Beacon. The music was © Babette Mangolte, Courtesy of the however, is historically determined. inspired by David Tudor, the musical artist and Broadway 1602 Uptown & Viewers’ expectations change Patricia Patterson Paintings quotation alludes to a piece by Harlem, New York fundamentally from one generation 2012, 16mm, HD video, 22 min. Max Neuhaus. to the next. The greatest challenge © Babette Mangolte, Courtesy of the The DVD projection Slide Show I faced was to portray another artist and Broadway 1602 Uptown & Je, Nous, I or Eye, Us is a selection of series of dance generation’s sense of time. I played Harlem, New York 2014, HD Video with sound, 4:3, photographs from Mangolte’s through the idea of giving the 6:30 min. archive which illustrate the repertoire performers on screen the feeling The film examines the brushstrokes © Babette Mangolte, Courtesy of the of movements developed by the of an intensified presence by using and colour palette of the figurative artist and Broadway 1602 Uptown & choreographers of the Judson Dance the acoustic space to restructure painter Patricia Patterson, whose Harlem, New York Theater’s era. Instead of showing the images. I realised I could use the subjects are defined by her Irish each slide for the same length of time, expansive length of time of the sixties heritage and the observational The film Je, Nous, I or Eye, Us is the projection of each image varies to my advantage and emphasise methods of a “documentary” painter. a mini essay that replies to a question between three and nine seconds. the significance of the performers’ This portrayal was shot on 16mm film about subjectivity in the 1970s The result is more reminiscent of bodies. The project is based on between 1989 and 1991, and cut as while Mangolte was making her film a silent movie than a slide show. the preservation of the concept of art a digital video in 2012. The Camera Je, La Camera: I that as transfer/art as framework. In my reflects on the process of taking Four Pieces by Morris opinion, this defined the effect of the Edward Krasiński’s Studio photographs. The new film from 1993, 16mm, colour, 94 min. performances which revolutionised 2012, HD video, 30 min. 2014 uses footage shot at the time © Babette Mangolte, Courtesy of the dance in the New York art scene of © Babette Mangolte, Courtesy of the of The Camera: Je, La Camera: I but artist and Broadway 1602 Uptown & the early sixties.” (B.M.) artist and Broadway 1602 Uptown & never used and adds to the 16mm film Harlem, New York Harlem, New York a series of titles about a photogra- Roof Piece on the High Line pher’s subjectivity then and now. “The film is a reconstruction of 2011/2012, HD video, 35 min. The 30-minute film recalls a day in the most important performances © Babette Mangolte, Courtesy of the the life of the Polish artist Edward by the sculptor Robert Morris artist and Broadway 1602 Uptown & Krasiński. In 1960, the Constructivist Yvonne with Tape from the early sixties. For me, Harlem, New York Henryk Stażewski invited Krasiński to 1972–2012, 16mm transferred to the challenge was to make a film share his studio in Warsaw with him. Video, b&w, 2:47 min. in the nineties which conveyed Trisha Brown’s choreography Roof After Stażewski’s death, Krasiński © Babette Mangolte, Courtesy of the a sense of the aesthetics of another Piece has become the emblem of created a series of meticulously artist and Broadway 1602 Uptown & generation without changing modern dance in the 1970s. It steered detailed objects in situ, which not Harlem, New York them in the process. In the 1960s, the viewers’ concentration and only became a shrine for his friend, the performance artists’ and attention to performers on faraway but also an example of his own The short film shows Yvonne Rainer dancers’ interest in Modernism was rooftops in the New York skyline. installations. in close-up while she sticks a piece concentrated on incidental gestures The version from 2011, on the other of tape first to her chin, then to her and the length of time. Some of these hand, was filmed within the compact Steve Paxton at Dia:Beacon nose and then over her eyes. The ab- subjects have become established architectonic space of the High 2014, HD video, 8 min. surd action is carried out with the in the repertoire of contemporary Line, thus requiring the spectators © Babette Mangolte, Courtesy of the camera frontally directed at the face, dance. Others, however, remain to move around to see the dancers. artist and Broadway 1602 Uptown & registering every movement in unfathomable, such as the concept The performance shows how Harlem, New York minute detail.

20 21 Installations B/w gelatin silver print Water Motor (Trisha rehearsing the Film Still from “Visible Cities”, 1991 40.64 x 50.80 cm solo in her studio), 1978 Digital print on paper Fragments and Filmmaking, 2016 Digital print on paper 20 x 25 cm Installation with film projection Shooting “Lives of Performers”, 1972 20 x 25 cm Variable dimensions (Later print 2007) Guggenheim Museum from “Four B/w gelatin silver print Film Still from “Steve Paxton at DIA”, Pieces by Morris”, 1994 Touching IV, 2016 27.94 x 35.56 cm 2014 Digital print on paper Installation Digital print on paper 20 x 25 cm Variable dimensions plus Slide Line Up (Trisha Brown), 1977 13 x 20 cm Show (theater) (Later print 2004) “Site” from “Four Pieces by Morris”, 1993 B/w gelatin silver print Film Still from “Steve Paxton at DIA”, Digital print on paper Landscapes and History, 1997 20.32 x 25.40 cm 2014 20 x 15 cm 10 colour c-prints made in 1986 Digital print on paper Variable dimensions Line Up (Trisha Brown) – Trisha bisecting 13 x 20 cm Film Stills from “Je, Nous, I = Eye, Us”, 2014 the group, 1977 (Later print 2004) Digital print on paper All works © Babette Mangolte, B/w gelatin silver print Film Still from “The Camera: Je, 20 x 51 cm Courtesy the artist and Broadway 20.32 x 25.40 cm La Camera: I”, 1977 1602 Uptown & Harlem, New York Digital print on paper All works © Babette Mangolte, Courtesy Line Up (Trisha Brown), 1977 25 x 20 cm the artist and Broadway 1602 Uptown & (Later print 2004) Harlem, New York B/w gelatin silver print Film Still from “The Camera: Je, Slide Shows 20.32 x 25.40 cm La Camera: I”, 1977 Digital print on paper Staging in Space Slide Show Line Up (Trisha Brown) – Improvisation 25 x 20 cm Program (theater), 2016 with Steve Paxton, 1977 (Later print 2004) Projection digitized slides, loop B/w gelatin silver print Film Still from “Patricia Patterson Babette Mangolte is an iconic 20.32 x 25.40 cm Paintings”, 2012 figure of international experimental Framing as a Method for looking Digital print on paper film.I = EYE covers a wide range Slide Show (paintings), 2016 Diptych “Jimi” from “The Camera: Je, 13 x 18 cm of works stemming from early Projection digitized slides, loop La Camera: I”, 1977 cinematic and experimental films to Digital print on paper Film Still from “Patricia Patterson her documentary photography of the All works © Babette Mangolte, 25 x 20 cm Paintings”, 2012 theatre, dance, and performance of Courtesy the artist and Broadway Digital print on paper the New York avant-garde in the 1970s 1602 Uptown & Harlem, New York Diptych “Mimi” from “The Camera: Je, 13 x 18 cm with the addition of two remastered La Camera: I”, 1977 historical sitespecific installations as Digital print on paper Film Still from “Patricia Patterson well as recent projects. 25 x 20 cm Paintings”, 2012 Individual Works Digital print on paper The Sunday tours in German introduce Diptych “Stuart” from “The Camera: Je, 13 x 18 cm visitors to the exhibition and the Group Accumulation (Trisha Brown), La Camera: I”, 1977 Film Still from “Visible Cities”, 1991 multifaceted work of Babette Mangolte. 1973 (Later print 2007) Digital print on paper Digital print on paper B/w gelatin silver print 25 x 20 cm 20 x 25 cm Free with admission 27.94 x 35.56 cm Film Still from “What Maisie Knew”, 1975 Film Still from “Visible Cities”, 1991 Sun 18/12 2016, 4 pm Roof Piece (Trisha Brown), 1973 Digital print on paper Digital print on paper I = EYE (Later print 2003) 18 x 23 cm 20 x 25 cm With Daniela Fasching

22 23 Sun 25/12 2016, 4 pm Colophon Press and Communication: Agnieszka Sularz The medium-specificity of performance Katharina Murschetz Martin Walkner With Martin Pfitscher Exhibition Stefanie Obermeir Kunsthalle Wien GmbH Victoria Grinzinger (Intern) Design: Sun 1/1 2017, 4 pm Boy Vereecken The art, dance and theater scene Director: Fundraising and Sponsoring: Antoine Begon of New York in the 1970s Nicolaus Schafhausen Silvia Keller With Wolfgang Brunner Print: CFO: Event Production: REMA LITTERA PRINT Ges.m.b.H. Sun 8/1 2017, 4 pm Sigrid Mittersteiner Gerhard Prügger Cinematic influences on the work © Kunsthalle Wien, 2016 of Babette Mangolte Curator: Dramaturgy: Kunsthalle Wien GmbH is Vienna’s With Daniela Fasching Luca Lo Pinto Andrea Hubin exhibition space for international Vanessa Joan Müller contemporary art and discourse. Sun 15/1 2017, 4 pm Exhibition Management: Eleanor Taylor I = EYE Hektor Peljak With Wolfgang Brunner Education: Construction Management: Isabella Drozda Sun 22/1 2017, 4 pm Johannes Diboky Martin Walkner The medium-specificity of performance Michael Niemetz With Wolfgang Brunner Educators: Technicians: Wolfgang Brunner Sun 29/1 2017, 4 pm Beni Ardolic Daniela Fasching The art, dance and theater scene Frank Herberg Ursula Leitgeb of New York in the 1970s Baari Jasarov Martin Pfitscher With Martin Pfitscher Mathias Kada Michael Simku

Sun 5/2 2017, 4 pm External Technicians: Finances: Cinematic influences on the work Harald Adrian Mira Gasparevic of Babette Mangolte Hermann Amon Natalie Nachbargauer With Martin Pfitscher Dietmar Hochhauser Alfred Lenz Visitor Service: Sun 12/2 2017, 4 pm Danilo Pacher Kevin Manders I = EYE Christina Zowack With Martin Pfitscher Art Handling: Marc-Alexandre Dumoulin Exhibition Booklet Curator’s Tour Scott Hayes Wed 11/1, 6 pm Lazard Lyutakov Publisher: Curator’s Tour with Luca Lo Pinto, Johann Schoiswohl Kunsthalle Wien GmbH in English Andreas Schweger Text: Marketing: Vanessa Joan Müller Dalia Ahmed David Avazzadeh Editing: Katharina Baumgartner Isabella Drozda Adina Hasler Vanessa Joan Müller

24 25 Information

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