[Frameworks] tableau vivante : experimental film and single frames

Tue Oct 7 04:25:42 UTC 2014

Rebekka:

It would help if you could explain your ideas some, e.g.

> I am particularly interested in any examples of filmmakers that were
> investigating the tableau vivant as a reference to a film frame and not to
> a painting.
>
What characteristics do you imagine any such references might display?
Hypothetical examples if not actual?

A Living Painting would seem to be the inverse of cinema. It mimes a static
two-dimensional framed artwork, but does so in three-dimensional space and
real time that may be absent any physical frame. It's defining
characteristic is absence of motion where we would normally expect motion
to be. Even presented on a proscenium stage, the 3D and temporality of a
Living Painting allows it to be perceived from multiple points of view by a
single spectator. Cinema, of course, presents the camera frame POV to all
spectators, and employs static 2D images to create representations of
movement through time. It also ay employ sound and editing to create "off
screen space" outside the frame.It's defining characteristic is movement
where we would normally expect movement to be (i.e. a picture displayed on
a wall).

However, Wikipedia references the practice of tableax vivant as
pre-cinematic:

> a professionally produced series of *tableaux* presented on a theatre
> stage, one following another, usually to tell a story without requiring all
> the usual trappings of a "live" theatre performance. They thus 'educated'
> their audience to understand the form taken by later Victorian and
> Edwardian era magic lantern shows, and perhaps also sequential narrative
> comic strips.
>

So are you looking for films that somehow reference an INDIVIDUAL Living
Painting, or the tableax vivant form of a sequence of static poses? In the
former case especially, would you be considering films or sequences that
include minimal movements within otherwise static frames, or introduce
movement as a form of surprise after establishing a form of statis? Does
your definition of tableau-vivant-in-film restrict you to scenes in which
human figures are the central subjects of the composition, or would 'moving
still lifes' like J.J. Murphy's "Highway Landscape" or Peter Hutton films
count? What role does editing play, especially changes of camera
perspective within the same screen space? Would the tableau-vivant-in-film
need to be a long take or series of long takes?

Granting I have no clue what the specific targets may be, a few titles pop
into my head in response to vague suggestion:
Warhol: Vinyl. Benning: One Way Boogie-Woogie, 11x14. Rubin: Christmas On
Earth. Conner: Marilyn Times 5. Frampton: (nostalgia), Poetic Justice.
Mulvey/Wollen: Riddles of the Sphinx. Sharits: T.O.U.C.H.I.N.G, Piece
Mandala. Shiomi: Disappearing Music For Face....????
And, of course, anything involving Jack Smith, including the performances,
which is to say every waking moment of his adult life.

On Mon, Oct 6, 2014 at 6:42 PM, Jared Ashburn <ashburn.jared at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Warhol: "Haircut", "Sleep", "Beauty #2" and portions of "Chelsea Girls".
> Jack Smith's "Flaming Creatures" would be good too.
>
> On Oct 6, 2014, at 7:24 PM, "Gene Youngblood" <atopia at comcast.net> wrote:
>
>  Some of these are probably stretching too far, others I think qualify...
>
> Some Warhol
> Certain moments in Kenneth Anger
> Geography of the Body
> Fragments of Etoile de Mer and The Seashell and the Clergyman
> fragments of Christopher MacLaine’s The End
> James Broughton, The Golden Positions
> Cocteau, Blood of a Poet
> James Herbert’s nudes
> parts of Joan Jonas’ I Want To Live In the Country
> some of Shiho Kano, but I can’t remember which
> ken Kobland’s Flaubert Dreams of Travel
> Daina Krumins’ The Divine Miracle
> some setups in Mike Kuchar
>  Owen Land, Noli Me Tangere
> Tracey Moffatt, Night Cries
> Parts of Richard Meyers’ 37/73
> Sidney Peterson, Mr. Frenhofer and the Minotaur
> Ed Rankus, Naked Doom
> John Sturgeon’s early work, 1975-79
>
>
>  *From:* Rebekka Erin Moran <rebekka.moran at gmail.com>
> *Sent:* Monday, October 06, 2014 3:08 PM
> *To:* frameworks at jonasmekasfilms.com
> *Subject:* [Frameworks] tableau vivante : experimental film and single
> frames
>
> Hi,
>
> I am researching a project of the use of the Tableau Vivant in
> experimental or avant-garde filmmaking (history, theory, etc).
> I am particularly interested in any examples of filmmakers that were
> investigating the tableau vivant as a reference to a film frame and not to
> a painting.
> Also any sub themes that may relate to tableau vivant as a durational film
> frame or living freeze frame, or a tableau vivant as a non-active
> scene/image shot stop motion or frame by frame (in camera or optical
> printed).
>
> Any suggestions for readings or names would be greatly appreciated!
>
> best,
> Rebekka
>
>
>
>
>  Rebekka Moran
>
> rebekka.moran at gmail.com
> http://www.rebekkamoran.com
> tel: +345 849 5978
>
>
>
>
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