Meditation on Violence
A poetic film by Maya Deren featuring performance by Chao Li-Chi
21 May 2012
Meditation on Violence (1948) a film by Maya Deren. Black and white, 16mm, 15mins.
Playing out the movements of the Wu Tang ritual, American avant-garde filmmaker MAYA DEREN explores movement and performance in Meditation On Violence. Filmed in 1948, dancer CHAO LI-CHI delivers a performance blurring beauty into violence, the Yin into the Yang, light into darkness. Deren experiments with film time, reversing the film part way through producing a loop. Moving forwards and then backwards, the difference in the Wu Tang movements is almost imperceptible.
Text by Sophie Pinchetti.
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