The Superimposition (scenes 1–3)

Martin Hansen &
Melanie Jame Wolf

Exhibition
18/09–13/11/2022

Opening
18/09/2022, 3–7 pm

Dramaturgy: Louise Trueheart
Styling and Exhibition Advisor: Evan Loxton
Film Crew: TINT Film Kollektiv
Choreographic Assistance: Caroline Alexander

“The Superimposition (scenes 1–3)” is the third part of the annual programme EPHEMERIS

Supported by the NATIONALES PERFORMANCE NETZ – STEPPING OUT, funded by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media as part of the NEUSTART KULTUR initiative. Dance Aid Programme.

Events

Superimposition 1
Live Performance
Martin Hansen & Melanie Jame Wolf + Justin Kennedy
18/09  4 pm

Superimposition 2
Durational Performance
Martin Hansen & Melanie Jame Wolf
22/10  2–7 pm
drop in drop out

Superimposition 3
Podcast
Martin Hansen & Melanie Jame Wolf + guest
Online and on site
From 13/10

What secrets do film and dance have to tell one another?

The Superimposition (scenes 1–3) considers the possibility of the cinematic and choreographic as containers of embodied action and subjectivity across and outside linear time – to be filled and to be emptied, to transmit and to transform. It is the first in a series of process-based experiments by choreographer Martin Hansen and moving image artist Melanie Jame Wolf.

Three examples of unexpected ‘everyday dance’ scenes that occur in narrative art house cinema have driven the research that brought you the video installation and 2 episodes of live performance presented at Bärenzwinger. They are, namely, Bande a Part by Jean-Luc Godard (1964) and two films by Hal Hartley that reference the Godard: Surviving Desire (1991) and Simple Men (1992).

The artists have been friends for 10 years, and this is the first work they have made together. As choreographer and filmmaker, they are interested in what happens when two formal systems come together, but this is an experiment in form as much as an experiment in collaboration, relation, and in embracing a politics of messy coalition through the sharing of knowledge and skills.

Martin Hansen (AUS/DE) is a Berlin-based choreographer and artist working in performative media, within both theatre and gallery contexts. In their practice, archives in the form of extant photography, film, video, and GIF collections are used to critically explore memory and time, with ghosts recurring as generative figures and structures upon which individual works are built. A formally trained and celebrated dancer, movement is central to, yet autonomous within, their artistic process.

Since 2015, Martin’s solos and group works have been presented at venues such as Tanzfabrik, Sophiensaele, and Radialsystem (Berlin), PACT Zollverein (Essen), Rencontre Chorégraphique Internationales De Seine Saint Denis (Paris), Charleroi Danse and KANAL Centre Pompidou (Brussels), Hong Kong Arts Festival (Hong Kong), Dancehouse and Dance Massive (Melbourne), Aerowaves (Aarhus), and Carriageworks (Sydney).

Melanie Jame Wolf is a visual artist and choreographer who lives in Berlin. She works solo and with friends, making interdisciplinary pieces about power, flows of capital, and the phenomenon of ‘show business.’ She examines these economies and entanglements in works for gallery, theatre, and screen spaces. Coming from a background in contemporary performance, she approaches installation and the moving image as an expanded choreographic practice. She is invested in humour as a strategy for critical possibility and in working with language in subliminal and surprising ways.

Spaces that have presented her work include Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Kunstmuseum Basel – Gegenwart, KW – Institute of Contemporary Art, HAU – Hebbel am Ufer, Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art, nGbK, The National 2019: New Australian Art biennial, VAEFF Film Festival NYC, Arts Santa Monica, Schwules Museum, Sophiensaele, Münchener Kammerspiele, Arts House Melbourne, and Institute of Modern Art Brisbane.