Maysles: STILL/MOVING Poetry and Documentary Films – Participant Work

July 2020

This past May, MDC hosted our first (virtual!) workshop facilitated by renowned artists and longtime collaborators, Lynne Sachs @lynnesachs1 and Paolo Javier. For 3 days, a cohort of folks from around the world (Uruguay, Ireland, and all across the US) met over Zoom to explore the ruptures and resonances between still/moving images and written/spoken words.

The conversations were wide-ranging: from Lynne & Paolo’s collaborative STARFISH AORTA COLOSSUS (2015) to Chantal Akerman’s DOWN THERE (2006) shot entirely from her apartment; from traditional Japanese Benshi performances to Walter K. Lew’s art of movie-telling revival. With Lynne and Paolo’s brilliant guidance, each participant learned new ways to conceptualize—as well as generate—moving images, poetry, and live performance. What resulted was a collaborative video performance, which meditates on interior spaces, exterior forces, digital interface, safety, windows, translation, and shelter-in-place. In addition to demonstrating possibilities for collaborative art-making, these works reflect a mode of sustained intimacy through a moment of unprecedented distance.

The video included here is the final showcase, recorded from our live performance over Zoom on May 27, 2020. Featuring work by: Caroline Losneck @caroline207maine, Danielle Chu @dd_chu_, Edith Goldenhar @egoldenhar/@return2calaisfilm, Fereshteh Toosi @fereshtehtoosi, Jordon Wong, Kathleen Quillian @kathleenquillian, Laura Harris @lauraluha69, Melissa Ferrari, Nina Fonoroff, Quin de la Mer @i3rstudios, Sujani Reddy @SRedd, and Veronica Pamoukaghlian @verozoneuy.


The Tenuous We

Featuring work by: Moira Sweeney, Caroline Losneck, Edith Goldenhar, Fereshteh Toosi, Kathleen Quillian, Laura Harrison, Quin de la Mer, Sujani Reddy, Veronica Pamoukaghlian, and Lynne Sachs