A film/video-installation by José Carlos Teixeira | 2012-14, HD video, color, 18 min | Director of Photography: J. C. Teixeira
Exhibited at: Carpe Diem Arte e Pesquisa, 18th Street Arts Center, SPACES, MMoCA, MOCA Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland, CAAA, Guimarães 2012 European Capital of Culture, CIA Reinberger Galleries…
Considering the literal and performative potential of such concept (to fall), and the symbolic and metaphorical connotations associated with it, “THE FALL” is a participatory and collaborative project, that draws inspiration from literary, philosophical, theatrical and artistic legacies. By focusing on encounter and dialogue, and embracing issues of otherness, this piece integrates multiple voices, and explores levels of truth, staging, performativity and (self-)representation. Each subject describes his or her relationship to the act of falling, which can be a gesture of failure or one that represents letting go. Having expressed his or her emotional response, each is then asked to enact a fall. What does it mean to be on a stage? What gaze looks back at oneself? The final outcome is a quiet, intimate and yet powerful essay that incorporates words and gestures, consequences of one single request. By engaging his subjects in this process of identifying and acting out a source of fear and catharsis, Teixeira creates the conditions for these individuals to move beyond their anxieties and become comfortable with risk. Such adaptation might be necessary in a global condition of increasing precarity, where the old models of living and working no longer seem to apply.
http://schloss-post.com/the-fall/ [Conversation/Reflection between José Carlos Teixeira, Jeremy David Bendik-Keymer (Professor in Ethics), and Erica Levin (Film Historian)]