director's commentary
One of the great things about having a digital platform is that we can explore new ways of showing existing artworks online. Everything is possible. That’s where the idea for our Director’s Commentary series came from: how could we offer viewers contextualizing material about an artwork, but in a way that doesn’t require extensive reading? Inspired by the special features options on DVDs (we can’t believe DVDs are oldschool now…), we asked artists to record an audio essay, letter, story, or reflection on their own artwork. We’ve designed a new video player that allows you to toggle the commentary on and off - the experience is yours to command. Each artist responds to the assignment in a different way, and each offers you a glimpse into the research and care that goes into their artistic practice.
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Directors Commentary: Rabbit 314 by Hsu Che-Yu
Hsu Che-Yu secured the body of a dead rabbit from the animal research facility where his grandmother used to work in her youth. Together with scriptwriter Chen Wan-Yin and a glove puppeteer, they made the rabbit come alive– as imagined by humans.
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Directors Commentary: DEADPAN BUSTED by Aukje Dekker
For this Director’s Commentary, Aukje Dekker reads the e-mail she wrote to Steve McQueen in 2016, and dives into McQueen's Dead Pan (1997), which in turn is a remake of Steamboat Bill, Jr. (1928) by Buster Keaton, of which her own DEADPAN is an reenactment.
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Directors Commentary: The guest, the host & the ghost by Lorena Solís Bravo
‘What are we if not a brief balance between actions that are not specifically human?’ For this Director’s Commentary, Lorena Solís Bravo weaves together biological research, poetry and queer sensibilities of care into a beautiful audio essay.
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Director’s Commentary tɯ:nar tɯ:n:a:q ihijbit by sata taas
In this special version of tɯ:nar tɯ:n:a:q ihijbit for our Director’s Commentary series, sata taas members speak to, or with, the video, invoking the solidarity between Indigenous peoples of the Arctic and the land, the spirits, animals and plants they share territory with.
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Director's Commentary: Morpher by Kévin Bray
In a beautifully timed spoken essay, Kévin dives into the theory behind the ever-shifting landscape he says he will continue developing over his whole life.