SIN∞FIN

2010-2012, Film trilogy

 

A 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. Episode #1, "Performances at the End of the World," set in Chilean Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego (2010) thematically focuses on the microcosm and intimate domain of the individual and the couple. Episode #2, "Performances at the Holy 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 through narratives on nature and the universe with the macrocosm. 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.

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A VestAndPage production, Germany/Italy, 2010 - 2012

In co-production with Conflicta Contemporary Art and Science Research, Punta Arenas (Chile); Sarai CSDS Centre for the Studies of Developing Societies, Delhi (India); DNA Dirección Nacional del Antártico, Buenos Aires; Thetis Spa, Venice (Antarctica).

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Chile / India / Antarctica, 2010-2012

HD digital/DVD PAL, each episode ca. 00:35:00, 1.77:1, colour, stereo

English with subtitles in Spanish and Hindi / English for the hearing impaired / Mandarin

 

www.sinfin-themovie.de

 

+ Watch as Video On Demand

+ For exhibition, please contact Video Out Distribution (#1 | #2 | #3).

+ Read a conversation with VestAndPage about their practice and sin∞fin here.

+ Free download of the textbooks.

 

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VestAndPage examine universal human experiences through the prism of extreme environments: taking the familiar and staging it within in an epic, alien landscape; the result being a heightened reality: both entirely surreal and as familiar as a dream. [...] It's this sense of eternity that struck me the most about the film. These landscapes stretch off into infinity, cold beaches and mountains in precisely the same state as they were when humanity first stood upright and picked up rudimentary tools. In the face of this awesome massiveness, the human body is exposed as a fragile lump of flesh and bone, engaged in a desperate, futile rush to make a mark on a world that doesn't care. Pretty depressing huh? But what VestandPage show is that even in the extreme depths of frozen insignificance, altruism, partnership and love still possess unique importance. These transient human feelings may be as ephemeral as a mote of dust, but these vital, new images underline that basic, everyday kindness is as important as the most epic of landscapes.

David C James, London City Nights

 

 

In spite of currents, ecologies and surrealism, comes out a covert then increasing sensation of pure, irreducible sweetness. The sequences of pure flesh are epidemic and somewhat orthopedically poetic, when inks are printed and objects raged onto bare skin, tightened with gauzes, shaken by subtle, imperceptible muscular spasms or signs. The letters, words, writing itself is assumed as organic matter. And all this paraphernalia—always brilliant under the imprint of scenic invention—goes well with impossible landscapes, worthy of any words in spite of Chatwin. [...] After all that is no coincidence, because if you investigate on Stenke and Pagnes, you come across a string of artistic experiences ranging from visual art to performance, from poetry to sculpture, painting and dance.

Gianluca Bassi, "sin∞fin by VestAndPage - A movie of another kind," Leconte Editore

 

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VestAndPage create profoundly poetic images that sometimes appear as allegories, and at other times stripped off all pretension, being confronted in what they show. There is cruelty crowned by the sober aesthetics of beauty in form and content, expressed through actions that seem disquietudes of existence, from the depth of being. VestAndPage's investigation leads to the essence: to reveal this vital impulse, which gives movement to the body. To be conscious of that divine spark that lights up for a moment giving life to the movement. To be a testimony. Where does it come from? Where does it lead us? It comes from the mystery.

A strong state of humility has to turn flesh from within, to carry towards this. The content of VestAndPage's work reveals the mystery, it is the fruit of knowledge of oneself, and this gives breath through art. 

Ana Alexandra Moreno, Caracas (2012)