anamnesis II

above: excerpt from Anamnesis (Canto 1, Canto 2, Canto 3) - Canto1, 2013 (to hear the sound press the sound icon located in the lower right corner of the moving image)

2013

digital high definition video projection, black and white, and color, sound

duration: 27 minutes 24 seconds, limited edition, 3 + 2 AP

film stills, dimensions variable, limited edition, 3 + 2 AP

installation: white muslin fabric, traces of charcoal, stones, black scarves, sound composition, projected video, collection of FBAUP Museum, Porto

live performance: composition for unlimited number of movement performers, white muslin fabric, stones, charcoal, graphite

collection: Museum of the Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Porto, Portugal

below: selected limited edition film stills

Sound

Monika Weiss · ANAMNESIS II (CANTO 3) 2013

Monika Weiss · ANAMNESIS II CANTO 2 (2013)

*Anamnesis II,* 2013. View of the performance and installation at Museum of the Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Porto, Portugal, curated by Paulo Luis Almeida

Credits

composed, written, choreographed and filmed by Monika Weiss

movement performers & speaking voices: Maria Alfonso, Carina Barbosa, Ana Breu Santos, Claudia Cibrao, Daniela Clino, Filipa Gluz, Joana da Cruz Gomes, Joana Galves, Carolina Grilo Santos, Juliana Lopes, Joana Maria Pereira, Catarina Rabanada, Benedita Santos, Rita Senra, Ines Sousa Mendes

ARTIST STATEMENT

In Anamnesis II I invited local women from Porto to lay down alongside me within the space of a drawing/shroud covering the ground and held by stones, with chunks of charcoal and graphite spread around. My performers and I were wearing black clothes and black scarves, moving very slowly and silently, with our eyes closed, we drew traces around our bodies, marking our presence onto the fragile cloth. Cameras suspended from the ceiling were filming this large-scale shroud or field of drawing. The recorded footage was later edited into the resulting film Anamnesis II (Canto 1, Canto 2, Canto 3). In several individual sessions I have recorded the voices of the performers whom I asked to whisper words I wrote in English, and which were later translated into Portuguese. The women’s voices we hear are speaking slowly, allowing space for breathing and for silence, uttering phrases such as “I am lamenting”, “the skin of the Earth surrounds me”, “war”, “trace”, “my body”. The sound in Canto 2 is based on my recordings of a flying helicopter.

- Monika Weiss

Essay Excerpt

Monika Weiss' Anamnesis II is a site-specific installation that includes public performance, projected video and sound composition. As a systematic inquiry into the relationships between history, public space and the space around the body, the work addresses the performative act of drawing as related to speech, trace, erasure and disappearance. It is part of a series of performative installations like Drawing Lethe (2006) and Shrouds (2012), which evoke ancient rituals of lamentation as traditionally performed in response to war. Her current work considers aspects of public memory and amnesia as reflected within the physical and political space of the City. Originally educated as a classical musician, the artist continues to compose sound environments for her installations and cinematic works. Weiss is renowned for the use of her own body as a vehicle of artistic expression and for incorporating historical documents and narratives within her works.

- Paulo Luis Almeida, Monika Weiss - Anamnesis II, Museum of the Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Porto, 2013 (to read full text click here)

EXHIBITIONS

Sonhos e Raciocínios/Dreams and Reasoning - 500 years past the death of Leonardo da Vinci, Museum of the Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Porto, 2019, curated by Paulo Luis Almeida

Monika Weiss-Anamnesis II , Museum of the Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Porto, 2013, curated by Paulo Luis Almeida