Cécile B. Evans, A Screen Test for an Adaption of Giselle, 2019

2019

Medium

HD Video

Status

In Gallery Collection

Collect24 Art ID

C24-155861

"A Screen Test for an Adaptation of Giselle" is the first phase of an ongoing adaptation of the classic industrial-era ballet Giselle (1841). In Cécile B. Evans' production, the tragic, romantic ballet is transformed into an ecofeminist thriller set in a forest commune in the near future. In the original version, Giselle dies dancing herself into madness from lovesickness after exposing her lover Albrecht's deception. Resurrected in the afterlife, she is part of an anti-patriarchal group of women - the "Willis" - who rise from their graves and dance with living men until they too die. "A Screen Test for an Adaptation of Giselle" is set in a near future where Giselle and her friends, disillusioned with urban life in the metropolis, have moved to her mother's rural village with the goal of reordering society. They want to bring society back into harmony with nature, with a native Superbacteria playing a central role. The intrusion of an unknown entity into their successful community leads to contamination with old power structures in their newly created ecosystem. "A Screen Test for an Adaptation of Giselle" follows the narrative structure of a trailer, hinting at a multi-layered narrative that evolves in subsequent parts, explaining the gathering of the women and their escape from the city. Coupled with clips of environmental disasters, social unrest, microscopic shots of bacteria, and the AI-generated voice of Albrecht commenting on the scenery, their motivations become comprehensible. Using visuals that combine high- and low-resolution digital footage, 16mm and VHS with animation, Deep AI, and image upscaling techniques, Screen Test serves as a sketch of a hybridized world in which multiple realities simultaneously push to the surface. Evans creates a nexus of tension, violence, solidarity, emotion, identity, data, and nature alike by combining different image generation techniques that range from lo-fi to HD. This blending of technologies can be understood as an artistic nod to heterogeneity, encompassing a preoccupation with natural systems (such as bacteria, yeast, fungi), as well as an engagement with open-source programs, and aims to break down colonial and patriarchal narratives of dominance and capital.