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Rainer Variations

Charles Atlas

2002 00:41:30 United StatesEnglishB&W and ColorStereo4:3
Tags:
Dance, Documentary

Description

"In the spring of 2002 I handed over to Charles Atlas a collection of films and videotapes in various formats that I had been accumulating with an eye to his editing them into what I call a "faux Rainer portrait" (though he may well call the final product something else).

The mix contained everything from interviews, rehearsals, films, and performance fragments to "impersonations", or actual Rainer interviews and rehearsals directed by me and re-enacted by others, in this case, the Martha Graham impersonator Richard Move and noted actor Kathleen Chalfant. Such a ploy is in keeping with my long-standing fascination with the phenomenon of performance and all its potential for dodgy dissembling and illusion. Also at play here is a skepticism about the conventions of the documentary form that purports to reveal the "real" artist who ultimately remains a persona or crafty impersonator of her own idealized self-image.

I chose Charles Atlas for the task after seeing his chameleon video portrait of the British dancer/ choreographer Michael Clark. The liberties that Atlas takes with those hallowed filmic and literary traditions of continuity and coherence appeal to my sense of mischief and play."

--Yvonne Rainer

"For me Rainer Variations is a hybrid: a weave of impressionistic portrait, found footage construction, and video sampler. Aside from formal issues, Yvonne Rainer’s knotty process of thinking, her unique brand of humor, and her engaging presence are the things that were foremost in my mind as I worked on the tape. What I hope will emerge from this process is an interrogative portrait of an artist for whom I have great respect and affection."

--Charles Atlas

This title is also available on A Woman Who...: Selected Works of Yvonne Rainer.

About Charles Atlas

Charles Atlas, film director and video artist, has directed more than eighty films and videotapes. His recent output in these media has largely been the result of commissioned works for television both in the U.S. and in Europe.

The films and videos have ranged from the feature-length piece, Hail the New Puritan, a fictional day in the life of a young British punk ballerina, to As Seen on TV, a short comic film starring vaudevillian Bill Irwin, to Put Blood in the Music, a documentary about the downtown New York music scene circa 1989, to Son of Sam and Delilah, an impressionistic combination of opera singing, disco dancing, and serial killing, to Superhoney, a Gothic eroto-horror videodance. His film Merce Cunningham: A Lifetime of Dance, a 90-minute international co-production for television, won a "best documentary" award at Dance Screen 2000 in Monaco. His latest film is The Legend of Leigh Bowery, a feature-length documentary about the London-based performance artist and art/fashion icon.

Many of the films and videos have been made in collaboration with choreographer/dancers (including Merce Cunningham, Douglas Dunn, Karole Armitage, and Michael Clark) and performers (including John Kelly, DANCENOISE, Marina Abramovic, Karen Finley, Diamanda Galas, and Leigh Bowery). His most recent dance-related work, Rainer Variations, is a video montage/ portrait of filmmaker/choreographer Yvonne Rainer.

Throughout his career, Mr. Atlas has also been involved as collaborator in live performance work as director and also as designer of sets, costumes, lighting, and mixed media presentations. His work in this area has spanned the range from loft performances to opera house productions. His multi-media performance/theater piece, Delusional, (created in collaboration with Marina Abramovic) for a solo performer and four hundred live rats was presented in Belgium and Germany in April 1994. Atlas recently completed the video sequences about the work of the Judson Dance Theatre in the 1960's for The White Oak Dance Project’s touring stage production, PastForward.

Mr. Atlas has created several large-scale, mixed-media video installations. The Hanged One had as its components 15 channels of video, programmed lighting, and kinetic sculptural elements. It was shown at the Whitney Museum of American Art in January-March 1997. Recent video installations he has created have been shown at XL Xavier LaBoulbenne (NY), The Aldrich Museum for Contemporary Art, The Kitchen (NY), Magazin 4 (Austria), Ost-Gut (Berlin), Kjubh (Cologne), La Criee (France), and Performance Space (Sydney, Australia).

Mr. Atlas is the recipient of three "Bessie" (New York Dance and Performance) Awards. The most recent (1998) was in recognition of the video collages he made for the monthly event, "Martha @ Mother".