DVD - sin∞fin
sin∞ fin – Performances at the Holy Centre (India & Kashmir, 2011) is the second episode of VestAndPage's trilogy of art films of collaborative performances in epic locations around the world. Teetering between the real and the visionary, the films feature the two protagonists undertaking surreal and ephemeral acts. Amplified by the unfamiliar environments, the performances reflect on universal human experiences such as altruism, partnership and the transient nature of existence.
This first episode, Performances at the End of the World, set in Chilean Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego (2010) thematically focuses on the intimate, inner domain of the individual and the couple. Episode #2, Performances at the Hole Centre, located in Northern India and Kashmir (2011) highlights the topic of society and religion. The concluding episode, Performances at the Core of the Looking-Glass, filmed in Antarctica (2012) engages with narratives on nature and the universe.
There is no script or storyboard and the artists’ actions evolve in direct response to the surroundings in which they find themselves. The camera records what possible spectators would view, yet the movie is not a documentary. Instead the works are pieced together organically, forming an autonomous story generated through the process of making to be read by each viewer in a personal way.
SYNOPSIS
The two characters in this episode move through the lanes of an imaginary, oneiric city, encountering visions and memories of excess and absence, loss and overflow, surrender and hope. In the quest for their personal definition of what is the holy centre, they confront themselves with the prosaic realities of India. It is as if there was neither inside nor outside, but textures and edges. Their acts are centrifugal, remembrances splint all over the ground, waiting to be picked up after having traveled so far. The characters circulate and watch at themselves as strangers who are drawn to stop by, in the process of adding their stories to others. Unrevealing and revealing is accretive. Meanings, signs, which are layered over ruins and the history dust, are peeled off one by one to be connected and set forth in a map of fragmented time.
A VestAndPage production
In co-production with Sarai CSDS Centre for the Studies of Developing Societies, Delhi
India / Germany / Italy, 2011
HD digital / DVD PAL, color, stereo, 00:37:14, 16:9, English with subtitles in Hindi
LIMITED EDITION OF #100
More information about the movie trilogy on www.sinfin-themovie.de.
KEYWORDS
Performance art, Artfilm, Live art, Video art, Film, Documentation, Trilogy, Series, Experimental, Collaboration, Site-specific, Surreal, Poetry, Transcience, Human, Couple, Nature, Environment, Archetype, Writing, Dream, Society, Culture, Politics, Ritual, Practice, Contemporary Art, India, Kashmir