Casting a Shadow (3)

The practice of “casting” inherent to the logic of making theater and film often transpires to be a prism for the relationships between directing and acting, as well as interpretation and representation in the light of questions of power and self-empowerment, or dominance and subservience, and in a frequently sexualized context. In the course of “ludic capitalism” (Alexander R. Galloway), casting as a show format has long entered private television and has also come to play a key role in the world of labor and the so-called social media: as the popular genre of the casting show exemplifies, this is on the one hand a matter of a competition between different (performative) “skills” and “talents,” and on the other hand a public act of (self-)evaluation and selection. This film series addresses relevant discourses in game theory, behaviorism, and cybernetics, and aims to explore exemplary artistic and cinematic works in terms of the conceptual and reflective implications of casting as a sub-genre of rehearsal. This is seen as an illustration of collective (re-)interpretations of normative role patterns and requirements for achievement, and also as a barometer for changing relations between reality and fiction.

For the third evening of the series Casting a Shadow, a program will be developed together with students from the Academy of Fine Arts in a project seminar of the same name. In various formats, these works further explore and expand analysis of casting situations and the precarious conditions inherent to their processes of (de-)subjectification. These tests of talent and authenticity for the needs of the moment raise issues of power relations, stereotypical images, coercion, and the consequences of a very direct use of the body.

Program

Presented by Anna Barbieri, Viktoria Bayer, June Drevet and Ben Rosenthal

Black Section

Michael Klier, Casting, 1986, 25 min
Anna Barbieri, Lieblingstag, 2018, 5 min
Viktoria Bayer, Soliman Lawrence, Selina Shirin Stritzel, In Four Inneracts, 2018, 20 min
Kelly Ann Gardener, Carrie, 2018, 5 min
Anna Barbieri, Jakob Ehrlich, Tatjana Hoser, Martin Rovan, Arrangements, 2018, 10 min
Onur Akyol, Chantal Kaufmann, Self, i.e., 2018, 13 min

White Section

Ben Rosenthal, Banner, 2018
Jakob Ehrlich, „Der Fall Romy Schneider" alias „Romy Schneider zum Gedächtnis" alias Drehbücher als Psychogramme, 2018
Felix Balzer, Gabriele M Affecting Projectio / Cast Away, 2018
Anna Barbieri, Heidi feat. Lacan, 2018, 5 min
Kati Göttfried, Kim Does Her Own Make-Up, 2018
Eszter Kállay, Losing Agency. A Conversation of Eszter Kállay and Maarten Loeckx, 2018, 25 min

Planned by Onur Akyol, Felix Balzer, Anna Barbieri, Viktoria Bayer, June Drevet, Jakob Ehrlich, Kelly Ann Gardener, Kathi Göttfried, Tatjana Hoser, Cathrin Jarema, Chantal Kaufmann, Jonida Laci, Soliman Lawrence, Marie Lopez, Isabel Mendoza, Eszter Kallay, Martin Rovan, Ben Rosenthal, Selina Shirin Stritzel, Hanwen Zhang, together with Sabeth Buchmann, Malene Nielsen, and Constanze Ruhm.