SESSION 96, ILLEGAL_CINEMA

Screening proposed by Izaro Ieregi and followed by discussion.

Horse, SHOOT, BANG!
This screening will take a look at some of the material projected during our exercises for filming Mugardiak Lugorrian. We extirpated the bodily movements from these and then experienced them.

They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? – opens with a scene in which a racehorse is running freely through open countryside. A young girl is staring at it in wonderment. At a certain point, the scene ends dramatically when the girl’s father fires a shot. The title refers to the fact of racehorses being put to death after being taken off the racetrack. The Spanish version is titled Danzad, danzad malditos (Dance, Dance You Damned). The film is set in the time of the Great Depression in the US. It describes the shows in which couples were made to dance non-stop through the day and night, barely stopping to rest. The show was set up to entertain other souls, also beleaguered, but wealthier. I find this film extremely violent; most particularly because of how it makes you feel as you watch it. The bodies that dance on and on in spite of their fatigue, striving for the promise of the great reward. I find that it relates to the contemporary state of our own bodies. There seems to be a twofold premise: to carry out an order – walk ten metres – while emotionally the situation is the opposite – I’m so exhausted and depressed I can’t even walk. So we find ourselves in a double bind. The order – walk, is incompatible with the state – exhausted, depressed.

My beloved friend Cecile said that the bodies in Alexander McQueen Spring Summer 2004 show, which was directly inspired by the film, were two-directional bodies, with a double intention. In the brutal film Climax, there are several things that alter bodily consciousness and lead to a liminal state. A trance state in which the presence of the self is no longer “I am acting here”, but “I am this other thing”. To lose the human consciousness that distinguishes us from things and other living beings, and find ourselves in a state of consciousness that leads us to experience “being another”. In the party at the end of rehearsals, a young dance company encounters that other consciousness. The state is not always deliberately sought, and not always satisfactory either as we see in the film. The frenzied dancing, techno music and a sabotaged punch carry the dancing body into a parallel reality. Sometimes we undergo the same dissociation because of not being able to respond to the social demands of our time. I cannot, I am not myself.

Izaro Ieregi (Algorta, 1987). My work uses performance with a sculptural notion. I refer to issues such as social structures and historical contexts. Particularly sensitive to vulnerability, precariousness and the potential of the bodies inhabiting these states. This becomes manifest between sculpture and dance, film and installation, the somatic and text. These intermediate zones allow me to work freely. I try to find a language of my own, working specifically and differently in each space. My subjectivity is filtered through collective work. This results in intersected meanings and many different layers that cross through each context in the future, past and present.

I have shown my work in different spaces, with projects such as Prendido, Bosteko (2021), Soplo, Barrainkua (2021), Estudiotik at, Tabakalera (2021); Zerbait Gertatzeko Derrigorrezko Desbideratzea, Artium (2020), Eginberri, Guggenheim Bilbao (2017), Feroz eta Kabala, Centro Cultural Montehermoso (2017), Time For Love, Torre de Ariz (2017) Grado Cero, Cultural  San Martín. Buenos Aires (2017). I have recently made several performances: Encontrarás la manera, Artium (2020) Lo hacemos dentro, Artium (2020), The Glimmer, Dutch Art Institute (2021). I have a Degree in Fine Art and a Masters in Art and Investigation with the Universidad del País Vasco (2013), where I was also a professor (2018-2021). I extended my training at JAI (Instituto de prácticas artísticas) and currently work with the DAI   Roaming Academy (Dutch Art Institute).

I was also a founding member of OKELA, an independent space located in Bilbao (2013-2018). I have given talks and workshops at Getxoarte, Tabakalera, MACBA, Unversidad Nacional de Argentina and the Xiamen University. I have received grants and awards such as the Bilboarte production grant; the Basque Government production grant; the ERTIBIL BIZKAIA award, Studio KURA Residency, Japan; or the Basque program for the internationalization of contemporary art EAS EZE. I have also participated in artist residencies at Tabakalera, San Sebastian (2018); Chinese European Art Center CEAC, Xiamen (2017); and Fundación Bilbaoarte, Bilbao (2016).