Five ‘Exits’ from Brecht: Towards New Brechtian Subjectivities in Film How can Brechtian v-effekts be developed or adapted in the light of contemporary understandings of subjectivity? Alice Evans A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) The University of the Arts London, Camberwell, Chelsea and Wimbledon Colleges of Art April 2021 Word Count: 83300 2 Table of Contents Table of Contents ......................................................................................... 3 Exhibition/ Practice-led Research Material ................................................... 5 Table of Figures ........................................................................................... 6 Abstract ....................................................................................................... 9 Introduction ............................................................................................... 11 Outline of the Contribution to Knowledge of this Study..................................... 11 An Introduction to a Practice-Centred Approach to Brecht through Earlier Critical Photographic Practice ...................................................................................... 14 Methods .......................................................................................................... 25 Chapter 1 Brecht in the C20th ..................................................................... 38 A Short Introduction to Brecht .......................................................................... 38 Key Texts Concerning Brechtian Photography & Film......................................... 43 The Significance of the ‘Culinary’ to a Brechtian Critique ................................... 47 The Specific Importance of the V-effekt to this Study ........................................ 48 The Prescience of the V-Effekt .......................................................................... 53 Is it Still Possible to Realise Brecht’s Socio-Political Goals by Using his Original Techniques? ..................................................................................................... 66 Chapter 2 Brecht in the 21st Century .......................................................... 67 Problems with the Continued Formal use of Brecht’s V-effekt. .......................... 67 How and Why Should Brecht be Utilised for the 21st Century? .......................... 70 Contemporary Approaches to Brecht within Film and Photography ................... 77 Bertolt Brecht and Subjectivity in Contemporary Art ......................................... 94 Chapter 3 Film 1: Gaslighting (2015) Brecht, Subjectivity and Feminism .... 108 Production Diary: Gaslighting (2015) .............................................................. 108 Jeff Wall and Brecht ....................................................................................... 111 Developing Gaslighting (2015) Through Contemporary ideas of Subjectivity and Feminism ....................................................................................................... 127 Chapter 4 Film 2: Letters Home (2016) Brecht and the Epistolary Form ...... 142 Production Diary : Letters Home ..................................................................... 142 Dogville and the Epistolary Form .................................................................... 146 3 Chapter 5 Film 3: Somewhere in Macedonia (2017) Unreliable Narration as an Exit Through and From Brecht ............................................................. 173 Production Diary: Somewhere in Macedonia ................................................... 173 Brecht & Hans Haacke .................................................................................... 179 Chapter 6 Film 4: Devon Gothic (2018) Allegory ........................................ 196 Production Diary: Devon Gothic ...................................................................... 196 Broomberg and Chanarin: Failures of Formal Brechtian Strategy ..................... 201 Monster Chetwynd as a Contemporary Brechtian ........................................... 203 Allegory and Appropriation as Critical Method or ‘Exit’ from Brecht ................ 206 The use of Allegory as applied to Devon Gothic ............................................... 212 Chapter 7 Film 5: Echo Piano Lesson (2019) Poetry, Strangeness and Brecht ................................................................................................................ 232 Production Diary: Echo Piano Lesson ............................................................... 232 Kaprow, Kluge, Strangeness & Brecht ............................................................. 233 Conclusion ............................................................................................... 250 Appendix 1: Treatment from Somewhere in Macedonia (2017) ................. 257 Appendix 2: Script from Devon Gothic (2018) ............................................ 258 Appendix 3: Script from Echo Piano Lesson (2019) .................................... 262 Bibliography ............................................................................................ 267 4 Exhibition/ Practice-led Research Material The film works can be accessed online at the following address: https://www.aliceevansfineart.co.uk/film-exhibition-gallery Password = Gallery2020 1. Gaslighting (2015) 2. Letters Home (2016) 3. Somewhere (2017) 4. Devon Gothic (2018) 5. Echo Piano Lesson (2019) 5 Table of Figures Figure 1:Unknown. (1941) Krupp Munitions Plant Essen. Available at: URL https://www.thyssenkrupp.com/en/company/history (Accessed: 5th March 2020). ................................................................................................................. 19 Figure 2: Brecht, B. (1945) War Primer [Photograph]. London: Verso. ........... 21 Figure 3:Alice Evans, (2003) Beach [Photograph]. London: Unpublished. ...... 23 Figure 4: Gaslight (2015) Directed by Alice Evans [Short film]. London: Unpublished. ...................................................................................................... 24 Figure 5:Alice Evans, (2006) Turing, Photograph on Lightbox: NA. ............... 57 Figure 6: Jeff Wall (1979) Picture for Women, Transparency on Lightbox: Tate. ............................................................................................................................ 58 Figure 7: Gillian Wearing (1993) Signs that say what you want them to say and not Signs that say what someone else wants you to say (Queer and Happy), 1992-1993 Maureen Paley Gallery. ................................................................... 60 Figure 8:Deadpool (Opening Credit Sequence) (2016) Marvel/20th Century Fox. ............................................................................................................................ 62 Figure 9:Sony (2016) Sony Camera Perfume Bottle [Advertisement]. ............. 63 Figure 10:Breugal, P. (1558-60) Landscape with the Fall of Icarus [Oil]. Royal Museums of Fine Arts Belgium, Belgium Available at: URL https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landscape_with_the_Fall_of_Icarus(Accessed: 12th Jan 2018). ................................................................................................... 74 Figure 11:Still from A Trip to the Moon (1902) by George Méliès. ................. 76 Figure 12: Still from Why Colonel Bunny was Killed (2010) Miranda Pennell, LUX ................................................................................................................... 82 Figure 13: The Bowery in Two Inadequate Descriptive Systems: In, Around, and Afterthoughts on Documentary Photography [1981] (2013), Afterall. ....... 83 Figure 14:Opening of Hangmen also Die! (1943) (Film Dir. Fritz Lang with a script developed from a story by Bertolt Brecht) ............................................... 84 Figure 15: Still from Gaslighting (2015), Alice Evans. ................................... 108 Figure 16: Still from Gaslighting (2015), Alice Evans. ................................... 110 Figure 17: A Sudden Gust of Wind (After Hokusai) (2003), Jeff Wall ........... 114 Figure 18:Derrière la gare Saint-Lazare, Paris, France, 1932, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris © Henri Cartier-Bresson / Magnum Photos, courtesy Fondation Henri Cartier-Bresson ..................................................................... 115 Figure 19: Jeff Wall, A Donkey in Blackpool, (1999) Transparency on Lightbox, Tate. ................................................................................................. 117 Figure 20:Jeff Wall Approach (2014) Photograph, Marian Goodman Gallery, London. ............................................................................................................ 118 Figure 21: Fra Angelico Guido Di Pietro (1420-23), Metropolitan Museum, New York. ........................................................................................................ 119 Figure 22: Cindy Sherman Untitled Film Still No. 54 (1977), MOMA New York. ................................................................................................................ 130 Figure 23:Still from Gaslighting (2015), Alice Evans ..................................... 134 6 Figure 24: Still from Riddles of the Sphinx (1977) Mullen and Wollen, BFI. 135 Figure 25:Still from Riddles of the Sphinx (1977) Mullen and Wollen, BFI. 136 Figure 26: Still from Le Mépris (1963), Jean Luc Godard, Canal