now at lumiere.net.nz
Paul Amlehn exhibits at the 51st Venice Biennale
Word from abroad: one of our friends here at Lumière, performance artist Paul Amlehn, recently had a text work ("Untitled") exhibited at the 51st Venice Biennale. He is currently in pre-production on a feature-length film work we've featured here before, Jeanne Tripier Jeanne d'Arc. In addition, he is developing an erotic/sexually explicit feature film work titled The Tears of Eros, to be shot in The Garden of Monsters in Bomarzo, north of Rome – a phantasmagorical scupture garden by Orsini, the last of the Renaissance artists, and a sort of proto-surrealist (Dali also loved the garden, apparently).
Paul Amlehn was born in Auckland, in 1970. He is a writer, a performance artist, and a director of film and video art.
Paul's Untitled text work was recently exhibited in the Isola Virtuale (Virtual Island) international section of the 51st Venice Biennale. In 2004, Paul was invited to submit a performance work for the Theatre Section of the Venice Biennale. "I sent off a written proposal, which was reviewed favorably, and the Director of the Theatre Section requested a video of my work-in-process before he finalized the invitation. Unfortunately, I was not able to secure funding in the allotted time-frame to create the video, and I missed out on that opportunity." However, a year later, another opportunity presented itself. "I recieved an e-mail from another curator in Italy who already knew my written work, asking me to submit a text for the Virtual Island international section of the Biennale. I sent her a text, and to my delight, she accepted it."
Amlehn's video art work: Loakal (the title a word used by the Abipon Indians to signify: shadow, soul, image, echo) was a response to the premature birth and death of his son: Cassiel. It utilizes ultrasonic footage of a foetus in utero, along with glossolalic vocalization altered by electronic processes. The piece also features Amlehn in a shamanic performance ritual. "Loakal was the first video work I made. We recorded some ultrasound footage of our unborn son Cassiel at the hospital, as we knew he may not live much longer. It was only after he died, that I felt compelled to create something, in order to work through the feelings of loss, grief, and sadness. Now, the work has been transmuted into something else, something greater, more universal, while still remaining extremely personal."
The Loakal video has been placed in prestigious public collections, including: MoMA, New York; and documenta archives, Kassel, Germany. It has screened at galleries, museums, and festivals throughout the world. The Loakal work also attracted accolades from art luminaries such as the American performance artist: Ron Athey, and the Italian theatre-director: Romeo Castellucci. "Yes, two of my favorite artists - whose work I had admired and been inspired by for a long time - were impressed by the work, and have since become good friends of mine. They have been very supportive and encouraging, which has helped me to push my work to a new level."
Paul is currently in pre-production on a feature-length film work, titled: Jeanne Tripier Jeanne d'Arc, which will be shot in Paris, Rome and Cesena. Jeanne Tripier Jeanne d'Arc is a solo performance work which explores and challenges the relationship between the representational / theatrical and the phenomenological / performative. Its dramatic nucleus is comprised of three interwoven strands of narrative: the biography of Jeanne Tripier (a spiritualist medium and schizophrenic, incarcerated in the asylum of Maison-Blanche, near Paris, in 1934); the novelized biography of Antoninus Heliogabalus (Roman Emperor) by Antonin Artaud; and the biography of Paul Amlehn. During the course of the work, these three strains of narrative reflect, intersect, and infect each other.
"I have been very fortunate to attract world-class collaborators to the project, and I am very excited to be working with them," Amlehn says. "I basically put together a dream-team of artists and technicians whose work I admired, and then approached them with the notion of working together on this project. I was suprised and thrilled to have them all say: yes." These artists include American sound composer: Scott Gibbons; Italian-based scenographer: Istvan Zimmermann; and stills photographer: Fabio Sajiz; - all are frequent collaborators of the world's leading experimental theatre company: Societas Raffaello Sanzio. "I'm also talking with cinematographer: Benoit Debie, who shot Gaspar Noe's film: Irreversible, it looks like he will be the D.O.P. and camera-operator on the project. Fred Polizine and Stephanie Himpe of OverlOOK Films in France will be producing."
Although Paul's work has screened throughout Europe, it is somewhat difficult to view it here in New Zealand. "No gallery was willing to show the work here in New Zealand, so the New Zealanders who have seen it are limited to a small group of friends and patrons. Maybe, at some point, that will change. But, regardless, I am very happy with the reception the work has met with overseas. Since my inclusion in the Venice Biennale, there has been a ground-swell of interest from major art institutions in Europe and America. It's definitely an exciting time."
Jeanne Tripier Jeanne d'Arc will begin shooting in 2006.
* * *
Paul Amlehn was born in Auckland, in 1970. He is a writer, a performance artist, and a director of film and video art.
Paul's Untitled text work was recently exhibited in the Isola Virtuale (Virtual Island) international section of the 51st Venice Biennale. In 2004, Paul was invited to submit a performance work for the Theatre Section of the Venice Biennale. "I sent off a written proposal, which was reviewed favorably, and the Director of the Theatre Section requested a video of my work-in-process before he finalized the invitation. Unfortunately, I was not able to secure funding in the allotted time-frame to create the video, and I missed out on that opportunity." However, a year later, another opportunity presented itself. "I recieved an e-mail from another curator in Italy who already knew my written work, asking me to submit a text for the Virtual Island international section of the Biennale. I sent her a text, and to my delight, she accepted it."
Amlehn's video art work: Loakal (the title a word used by the Abipon Indians to signify: shadow, soul, image, echo) was a response to the premature birth and death of his son: Cassiel. It utilizes ultrasonic footage of a foetus in utero, along with glossolalic vocalization altered by electronic processes. The piece also features Amlehn in a shamanic performance ritual. "Loakal was the first video work I made. We recorded some ultrasound footage of our unborn son Cassiel at the hospital, as we knew he may not live much longer. It was only after he died, that I felt compelled to create something, in order to work through the feelings of loss, grief, and sadness. Now, the work has been transmuted into something else, something greater, more universal, while still remaining extremely personal."
The Loakal video has been placed in prestigious public collections, including: MoMA, New York; and documenta archives, Kassel, Germany. It has screened at galleries, museums, and festivals throughout the world. The Loakal work also attracted accolades from art luminaries such as the American performance artist: Ron Athey, and the Italian theatre-director: Romeo Castellucci. "Yes, two of my favorite artists - whose work I had admired and been inspired by for a long time - were impressed by the work, and have since become good friends of mine. They have been very supportive and encouraging, which has helped me to push my work to a new level."
Paul is currently in pre-production on a feature-length film work, titled: Jeanne Tripier Jeanne d'Arc, which will be shot in Paris, Rome and Cesena. Jeanne Tripier Jeanne d'Arc is a solo performance work which explores and challenges the relationship between the representational / theatrical and the phenomenological / performative. Its dramatic nucleus is comprised of three interwoven strands of narrative: the biography of Jeanne Tripier (a spiritualist medium and schizophrenic, incarcerated in the asylum of Maison-Blanche, near Paris, in 1934); the novelized biography of Antoninus Heliogabalus (Roman Emperor) by Antonin Artaud; and the biography of Paul Amlehn. During the course of the work, these three strains of narrative reflect, intersect, and infect each other.
"I have been very fortunate to attract world-class collaborators to the project, and I am very excited to be working with them," Amlehn says. "I basically put together a dream-team of artists and technicians whose work I admired, and then approached them with the notion of working together on this project. I was suprised and thrilled to have them all say: yes." These artists include American sound composer: Scott Gibbons; Italian-based scenographer: Istvan Zimmermann; and stills photographer: Fabio Sajiz; - all are frequent collaborators of the world's leading experimental theatre company: Societas Raffaello Sanzio. "I'm also talking with cinematographer: Benoit Debie, who shot Gaspar Noe's film: Irreversible, it looks like he will be the D.O.P. and camera-operator on the project. Fred Polizine and Stephanie Himpe of OverlOOK Films in France will be producing."
Although Paul's work has screened throughout Europe, it is somewhat difficult to view it here in New Zealand. "No gallery was willing to show the work here in New Zealand, so the New Zealanders who have seen it are limited to a small group of friends and patrons. Maybe, at some point, that will change. But, regardless, I am very happy with the reception the work has met with overseas. Since my inclusion in the Venice Biennale, there has been a ground-swell of interest from major art institutions in Europe and America. It's definitely an exciting time."
Jeanne Tripier Jeanne d'Arc will begin shooting in 2006.
