Sarah van Lamsweerde Cast Witnesses

What do plaster sculptures tell us about stories from the past?

video
TH 14.12.2017 20:30
FR 15.12.2017 20:30

Hidden away in cellars and archaeological museums, behind coffee machines, in cramped offices or dusty storage spaces, we still find replicas of Greco-Roman sculptures. Seemingly unmoved, they await their sporadic visitors. In the meantime, they carry improbable stories, marked by migration, deterioration and restoration. These plaster casts are copies of classical sculptures, most of them of mythological figures. They are often combinations of different originals. Their missing parts are in some way even more present than what is still visible today. 

Cast Witnesses tries to relate to these leftovers of earlier civilizations and sees these plaster figures as symbols of our collective pain and desire. Over time, archaeological replicas of this kind reinforce stereotypical body proportions and gestures. Can we re-read history by breaking through these idealized human images? In this videographic episode of the project, a small group of researchers approaches their disjointed counterparts with self-designed therapeutic rituals.

 As you sit and watch the plaster sculptures on the screen, you may shuffle in your chair, search for the best position for your legs to support your hips, tilt your head to one side. Can you retrieve the stories carried inside your body?

➤ DOUBLE BILL: Alma Söderberg Nadita

20’
EN spoken

NL/BE | Concept & Development: Sarah Van Lamsweerde | Performance: Emma I. Panza, Michiel Reynaert | Development, Camera, Editing: Effi Weiss, Amir Borenstein | Sound Recording, Editing & Mix: Maxime Coton | Technical Support: Bregt Janssens / STUK Kunstencentrum | Costumes: Janneke Raaphorst | Outside/Inside Eyes: Fleur Van Muiswinkel, Emma I. Panza | Production Assistance: Jolijn Talpe | Plaster Fragments: Plaster Workshop Of The KMKG, Brussels | Coproduction: Playground (STUK Kunstencentrum & M - Museum, Leuven), Beursschouwburg Brussel, La chose à trois jambes vzw-asbl, Oude Kerk Amsterdam And Stichting Tre Tigri | Thanks To: Richard Kerkhofs, Nele Strobbe, Nathalja Calliauw En Marianne Toonen (KUL), Nathalie Bouvy With The Support Of: Amsterdams Fonds Voor De Kunst, Mondriaan Fonds, Tijl Fonds, Nederlandse Ambassade Van Het Koninkrijk Der Nederlanden Te Brussel | Filmed On Location in: The Plaster Workshop Of The KMKG, Brussels and The Didactic Museum For Archeology Of The KU Leuven

In the framework of THE FUTURE IS FEMINIST.

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