Tate Modern will Present the UK Premiere of Keren Cytter's "History in the Making"

Written by Jill Asbury Wednesday, 22 June 2011 20:24

LONDON.- "History in the Making" or the "Secret Diaries of Linda Schultz" follows protagonists John Webber, a political activist, and Linda Schultz, a graphic designer, as they awake one morning to discover they have each been subject to an unexpected and radical sex change. In this new theatrical work, Keren Cytter playfully chronicles the repercussions on society and sexual politics that follow, utilising choreography, language, film and music. Directed and written by Cytter, and choreographed in collaboration with D.I.E NOW (Dance International Europe Now), a group of actors and artists formed by Cytter in 2008, the story unfolds through a series of scenes; banal everyday gestures are contrasted with highly stylised movements using mimicry and silhouette, eventually reaching a crescendo of absurd theatricality, when social revolution occurs.

"History in the Making" takes inspiration from a diverse range of artistic influences, including Pina Bausch, Bat-Sheva dance group, Samuel Beckett, Disney on Ice, Michael Jackson, Yvonne Rainer, Sascha Waltz, Nang Yai and the exotic rhythms of the 1980s dance-floor filler the Lambada.

"History in the Making" is the ongoing project developed by Cytter and commissioned by the curatorial platform If I Can’t Dance, I Don’t Want To Be Part of Your Revolution exploring the notion of masquerade. For this Cytter created a series of new works, including an interpretation of the seminal 1975 performance by Dan Graham Performer/ Audience/Mirror in Bilbao (2009), several films which have informed this performance, and a short theatre work in Dublin (2009) which was the first ‘episode’ of "History in the Making".

Cytter inhabits a number of roles in her work as an artist – including that of choreographer, filmmaker, graphic designer, writer and sound-designer – utilising the vocabulary of each art form to make works that function both as celebration and critique of the medium. Cytter has created a diverse body of work in film and video, playing with cinematic and literary styles to create fractured, non-linear narratives, that are simultaneously confusing and familiar. Her interpretation of the numerous cultural references she employs is astute; cliché is deployed as a medium; cinematic genre and style are mimicked and morphed; and cycles of language and dialogue are manipulated to function as form, as Cytter purposefully blurs boundaries and flouts clashing styles. Her recent film 'Four Seasons' (2009) echoed the narrative and architectural setting of Tenessee Williams’s 'A Streetcar Named Desire' (1947), whilst using multiple special effects in homage to Hitchcock. Many of Cytter’s films are set within straightforward domestic spaces, using the kitchen as the focal point, yet her unique interpretation of these worlds is far from ordinary; she highlights, accentuates and magnifies elements of the relationships present within these spaces, exhibiting a precise form of empathy.

Keren Cytter (born 1977 in Israel) currently lives and works in Berlin. Recent solo exhibitions include CCA Center for Contemporary Art, Kitakyushu (2009), X-intiative, NY (2009), Witte de With, Rotterdam (2008), and MUMOK, Vienna (2007). Her work is currently featured in the 53rd Venice Biennale and was included in group shows such as Television Delivers People, the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (2008), Manifesta 7, Trentino (2008) and the Yokohama Triennial, Yokohama (2008). She was nominated for the Preis der Nationalgalerie für Junge Kunst 2009, Berlin. Cytter is the author of three novels, most recently The True Story of Moshe Klinberg, 2009, Onestar Press, Paris.

Keren Cytter/D.I.E. Now (Dance International Europe Now),
Tuesday 3 November 2009, 21.00–22.15

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