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An exhibition by Daniel Böhm exploring the psychological landscapes of the human condition
Slought is pleased to announce "Cuerpos en Camera," an exhibition featuring the work of Argentinean filmmaker Daniel Böhm, on display April 18-May 18, 2008. The opening reception with the artist will be on Friday, April 18th from 6:30-8:30pm.
Exhibition curator Osvaldo Romberg suggests that there is something inherently strange in the work of Danny Böhm, something removed from our time, something timeless. These films appear as apparitions from the past, movies that look and feel like old movies. The images make you realize that you are watching the history of cinema. Moreover, they engage the collectivity of human experience and reject the trivialities of momentary drama; in so doing, Böhm makes films that create a universal narrative of plurisexual psychology, played out to conclusion through dances of intimation by silent actors.
According to Romberg, the characters themselves are universal prototypes; they convey emotion and storyline through universal gestures and symbols. They insinuate aggression, survival, confrontation, exploration, sex, etc., psychologically implicating the viewer in a kind of mutually transferential relationship. Psychological awareness is not only related through the face and the body of the characters, but also by their position and movement in space (crawling on the floor, tapping the furniture, cradling an object).
This is all expressed in black-and-white photography with adept direction of the actors. The photography, the action and the choreography of the characters in the movies create psychological landscapes of allegory, but at the same time, they leave a place for metaphor that complicates meaning.
Daniel Böhm is a filmmaker based in Buenos Aires, Argentina. His cinema explores the poetics of movement and psychological awareness. After his initial career as a psychoanalyst, Böhm studied cinematography and film directing at New York University. His short films have received international recognition, including a First Prize at the Joseph Papp Latino Film Festival in New York, a Golden Plaque in Chicago's international Film Festival, and a Silver Lion at Cannes, among others.
His latest film, Sólo Hombres Solos, is a dance-film triptych. Inspired by the photography of Duane Michals, the film explores three men who share an apartment, albeit unaware of each other's presence. They are each one and the same person, at different stages of life, whose paths unexpectedly intersect for a moment. The camera witnesses this instant through a poetic investigation on male bonding and movement.