This November the BFI Gallery presents an exhibition dedicated to the work of the legendary American dancer, choreographer and filmmaker, Yvonne Rainer (b.1934) whose practice is amongst the most influential on the newest generation of video makers and choreographers alike. In the last few years there have been a number of important publications on her work and museum shows dedicated to her but she has not had a gallery exhibition in the UK to date. The exhibition features three of Rainer's works in the BFI Gallery and is accompanied by screenings of her seven feature films to be shown in the BFI cinemas and a curated programme of artists’ works taking place in December.
Although she is renowned in the world of art because of her innovative contribution to contemporary dance, Rainer is also remarkable because of her involvement with cinema later in her career, and her work is punctuated with references to both the history of dance and cinema. This exhibition concentrates on the reception and transformation of ideas in her work, such as those of choreographers Vaslav Nijinsky and George Balanchine, composer Igor Stravinsky, thinkers such as Ludwig Wittgenstein and Sigmund Freud, and filmmaker Georg Wilhelm Pabst
IN THE BFI GALLERY
The BFI Gallery show features Rainer's installation, After Many a Summer Dies the Swan: Hybrid (2002) to be shown for the first time in Europe; and installation format projections of two of Rainer's most recent choreographies (as she has returned to dance in the past ten years), filmed by Babette Mangolte, RoS Indexical (2008) and AG Indexical with a Little Help from H.M. (2007).
IN THE CINEMAS AT BFI SOUTHBANK THROUGH DECEMBER
Lives of Performers, 1972 (90 min)
Film about a Woman Who…, 1974 (90 min)
Kristina Talking Pictures, 1976 (125 min)
Journeys from Berlin/1971, 1980 (125 min)
The Man Who Envied Women, 1985 (125 min)
Privilege, 1990
MURDER and murder, 1996 (113 min)
IN THE ATRIUM AT BFI SOUTHBANK
An excerpt of Yvonne Rainer’s Lives of Performers, 1972, will be shown continuously in the Atrium.
IN THE STUDIO AT BFI SOUTHBANK
An accompanying curated screening programme in the BFI Studio takes place over two weekends in December. It features a presentation of Raine'’s Five Easy Pieces, alongside video work by contemporary artists who work in the style of choreography for the camera. The artists are: Yael Bartana, Johanna Billing, Katinka Bock, Jonathan Burrows, Kӧken Ergun, Michel François, Laurent Goldring, Mircea Cantor, Sonia Khurana, Florence Lazar, Bea McMahon, Natacha Nisic, Anri Sala, Beat Streuli, Ulla Von Brandenburg, Su-Mei Tse, Uri Tzaig.
Yvonne Rainer artists' films: programme 1
Sat 11 Dec 13:00, Studio
Yvonne Rainer artists' films: programme 2
Sun 12 Dec 13:00, Studio
Free drop-in screenings, no booking required.
The Yvonne Rainer Project is curated by Chantal Pontbriand.
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