The opposite of a black hole (2022)
premiere October 2022 in the Festival International de Vidéo Danse de Bourgogne
The opposite of a black hole is a digital flaneur, an audiovisual journey through the wandering mind of a pinhole camera, exploring the clashing of old and new technologies in relation to the dancing body and the moving image.
The film meanders through homages to old cinema romance, existential dread, and glitch-feminist fantasy, all the while paying tribute to the pioneering figure of Maya Deren. The opposite of a black hole is a disembodied reflection on what we are made of. It imagines the relations of dust, DNA & pixels to the human body, as well as the malleability of human flesh and voice in the digital realm. The wandering pinhole voices the pleasure of thinking as entertainment, the transformation of thinking to panicking, and the many contradictions of our times, through dreams, nightmares, and tangential distractions. The artists seek to enter inside the universe of their tributee, digitally penetrating the boundaries of culture and technology that prevent us from time travelling to meet our predecessors, with curiosity, humour, and reverence.
The opposite of a black hole was commissioned by the Festival de VideoDanse de Bourgougne, for the festival’s 2022 omnibus film Somnambulists for an Ensemble. This project is a tribute to the renowned experimental dance-film maker Maya Deren’s 1951 short Ensemble for Somnambulists, gathering international perspectives from 10 female-identifying Screendance artists’ autonomous shorts. Following it’s premiere in Burgundy, The opposite of a black hole is also presented as an independent short film.
co-direction- Rebecca Douglass, Tasha-Hess-Neustadt, Madison Pomarico
choreography, performance- Rebecca Douglass and Tasha Hess-Neustadt
camera- Madison Pomarico
editing & animation- Madison Pomarico
text- Rebecca Douglass and Tasha Hess-Neustadt
sound- Jake Burgess
Original film footage from Ensemble for Somnambulists, Maya Deren, 1951
Original sound samples from 'Beach' and 'Scotty Tails Madeline' by Bernard Herrmann from Vertigo, Alfred Hitchcock, 1959
Supported by Fieldworks Dance London through their Artist in Residency program
Funded by The Arts Council of England
Presentations:
• Premiere: November 20th 2022, Festival de Vidéo Danse de Bourgogne & L’arc at Château de la Verrerie, Le Creusot FR
• Coctelito de Videodanza 2022-2023 Season, Mexico
• Fieldworks Dance London Screening, January 2023
