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Casa, Corpo sem fim

Tânia Moreira David

An osmotic encounter between a human body and the body of architecture.


This short film corporealizes an osmotic encounter between a human body - a woman dancing - and the body of architecture - Lisbon's aqueduct underground gallery. The cinematic apparatus presents an intimate and sensorial architectural experience, involving dance and sound for exploring a hidden space.

The film had its origin in Frederick Kiesler's Endless house, which presents an organicist approach to architectural space: the house as a living organism, an extension of the human body, as opposed to modern functionalist architecture, materialised in Le Corbusier's house as a machine for living. Kiesler writes: "The house is neither a machine nor a work of art. The house is a living organism, not just an arrangement of dead materials: it lives as a whole and in the details. The house is the skin of the human body."

Exhibiting an experimental approach to the representation of the sensorial experience in architectural space, the project investigates a way to reveal a sensitive and intimate experience, exceeding the geometrical representation of architecture, which shows a distant relationship between spectator and film. The representation of the architectural experience is presented beyond its rational character revealing itself on the sensation.

Rather than representing the body as a distant object, the film looks for constituting itself as an experiential body. By creating new connections between its parts, which appear beyond continuous space-time, the film presents an architectural space with a new logic: the fixed elements and references of architecture - form, dimensions, and coordinates - are deconstructed, unfolding the space to new possibilities and new sensations. Simultaneously, the exploration of haptic visuality emphasizes the corporeal relation between spectator and film, by appealing to the former's senses as a whole, thus creating a new body. Dance is shown along with the cinematic device as a high means of recreating architecture, due to its ability to transform chronological time and objective space.

Credits

Editing: Tânia Moreira David
Assistant Director: Madalena Areal
Choreography and Performance: Valentina Parravicini
Location: Aqueduct Underground Gallery, Lisbon
Cinematography: Afonso Silva de Brito and Tânia Moreira David
Sound Design: João Portela
Voice: Linda Drejer Bonde
Production Company: MODO Imago

Portugal 2016
Duration: 18'59''