Transvermation
Transvermation is a video installation, a digitalized Super-8 video accompanied by a voice-over in French and German.
The video shows a physical transformation through clay, reminiscent of the performances of Olivier de Sagazan. Transforming oneself, making oneself monstrous to escape the multiple systems of domination.
The text was first written in French. Inspired by feminist research and in particular by Paul B. Preciado’s speech at the Academy of Psychoanalysts “I am a monster”, it evokes the question of the body, limited in its binary definition, and the necessary transformation of the same to achieve a paradigm shift. Our body, this place of all abuses, exposed to the mechanisms of domination (patriarchal, classist, heteronormed, racialized…), must become the battlefield to allow an intersectional discourse.
Inspired by the poetic forms of Gherasim de Luca, the text breaks the grammatical codes, questions the language as a center of power. The interpretation in German is a return to Kafka’s “A Report to an Academy,” which inspired Preciado.
Learning a new language corresponds to the possibility of freeing oneself from the framework of the “mothertongue.” Once acquired, the language of exile, together with the cultural background brought with it, allows a liberation.
x-tractor collective work
Artistic direction: Blandine Casen
Performance: Claire Terrien
Text research and translation: Traum_A and Blandine Casen
Voices : TraumA, Blandine Casen, Cécile Casen
Super 8: Blandine Casen
Sound recording: Ronald Davila
The video instalation was first exhibited in Atelierhaus Mengerzeile und Kunstraum m3 (Berlin) and during the release of la petite publi by compagnie la felure in Marseille.
supported by “Kulturprojekte Berlin, Senatsverwaltung für Kultur und Europa”.
Berlin, 2021
Visuals by Fokkof
Cadavresque
This exquisite corpse was conceived in April 2020, during the Covid 19 outbreak in Berlin.
videos by: Blandine Casen, Matthieu Bourrel, Adam Goodwin, Jan Krüger, Fokkof, Luis Bustamente.
soundtracks by Adam Goodwin, Penelope Gkika, Nils Erikson, Marcello S. Busato, Amélie Legrand.
Rules of this exquisite corpse:
The film follows the following narrative structure:
– initial situation
– problem
– action 1
– action 2
– action 3
– solution identified
– slow-burning problem
– final position
For each game, one person was in charge of making the video and another person was in charge of making the soundtrack.
The person who made the video sends the last 4 seconds to the next videographer and to the person who made the soundtrack, indicating the length of the video.
Example: Initial situation: Blandine shoots her video, she sends the last 4 seconds to Matthieu (in charge of the “problem” video) and to Amélie (in charge of the soundtrack of the initial situation), indicating the duration (57 sec). Then Matthieu sends his last 4 seconds to Adam, and so on. The musicians also send their last 4 seconds to the next musician. Videos should be no longer than 3 minutes and no shorter than 30 seconds.
supported by “KulturprojekteBerlin, Senatsverwaltung für Kultur und Europa”.
Berlin, 2021
El baile del Chontaduro
A documentary by Blandine Casen on the “Chontaduro Dance” in the Colombian Amazon for the archives of the indigenous community. Based on an idea by Rafael Castellanos and Jose Muca
in Leticia, Colombia, 2015
Cameras: Manuela Henao Osorno, Blandine Casen
Video Editing: Blandine Casen
Sound Editing: Marcello S. Busato
Production: Rafael Castellanos
Leticia, Colombia, 2015
Falsos positivos
“…The Colombian military has been murdering civilians and dressing them up as rebels to show fake progress. The number of victims is 1500 so far, and “more reports are arriving daily”. Poor young men from the slums were lured with the promise of well-paying jobs, then murdered and dressed up as rebels with weapons. 1177 members of the military are under investigation in the scandal. … “
Collectiv audiovisual installation made with arist in Bogotá and Berlin in 2009
here to see