A SHORT FILM IN THREE PARTS

Buaahh (eeing) Guuhh!
(the creative potential of an unfinished thing)

Honeyed passage of time,
slipping.
An alternate space.
The wind blows through the pipes.

Many somatic sculptures,
morphogenic materials.
Where the matter of things of the world reveals its essential alchemy.

Borrowed from a work by the poet Rainer Maria Rilke, the title evokes the creative potential of an unfinished thing: a partial sentence, a half-finished drawing, a technical glitch, or a failed performance. We are engaging here in a time that is all mixed up; a smooth blend of long ago, present moment and speculative future. A massive barren mountain becomes our collaborator: Being loose, being lost, letting loose. The video was shot in the immense geological formations of the Tablelands in the northeastern region of the island of Newfoundland. 

Sarah Wendt and Pascal Dufaux share an art practice that takes form in sculpture, media art, installation and dance. Since 2016, they have developed and presented projects that turn a lens onto the body, space and objects. Their collaborative methodology seeks to imbue their projects with strange forms of temporality and heightened articulations of labour to draw forward an environment that melds science fiction to reality. In their work, moving images meet choreography and sculpture to create a world where motion as material loosens and reframes the value of human energy.

Their work has been presented at artist-run centres, art museums and dance festivals in Canada, including: Axenéo7, Gatineau, Quebec; Confederation Centre of the Arts, Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island; Maison des Artistes, Winnipeg, Manitoba; Musée d’Art Contemporain des Laurentides, Saint-Jérôme, Quebec; Symposium de Baie-Saint-Paul, Quebec; Mois Multi Festival, City of Quebec; OFFTA Festival d’Arts Vivants, Montreal, Quebec; Tangente, Montreal, Quebec; Canadian Centre for Architecture, Montreal, Quebec.

They live and work as uninvited guests on the traditional land of the Haudenosaunee, Mohawk and St. Lawrence Iroquoian in Tiohtiá:ke/Montreal.

https://www.wendt-dufaux.com

A production of Tangente Danse 2021
Artistic direction, music, performance, sculptures, choreography, costumes, editing, colourisation: Sarah Wendt and Pascal Dufaux
Performance and creative collaboration: Lucy Fandel
Video and collaboration in editing: Nina Vroemen
Lighting design: Sophie Robert
Performances and outdoor filming in The Tablelands, Gros Morne National Park, in Newfoundland: Sarah Wendt and Pascal Dufaux
Other performances: Dominique Pétrin and Bartleby the cat
Light robot programming: Patrice Coulombe
Sound collaboration, sound mixing: moon moon
Captioning by Sarya Wu

Supported by Canada Council for the Arts, Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, Confederation Centre Art Gallery, Tangente Danse. Residencies: AXENÉO7, Recto Verso, The Rooms Gallery, Parks Canada, Tangente Danse