Online screening short essay film Elaine Mitchener

We are happy to present an exclusive, temporary viewing option of Elaine Mitchener’s short essay film the then + the now = now time: a short essay film in lieu of a performance. The film (7 minutes) is accessible online for two weeks from Wednesday 10 Febuary.

Last year, London based vocalist and movement artist Elaine Mitchener was our guest together with moderators Ruth van Lenthe and Djuwa Djuwa Mroivili (watch the registration of the event here) and she made the podcast and playlist Unheard Voices. We now present an exclusive, temporary viewing option of her essay film the then + the now = now time.

the then + the now = now time is an exploration of Walter Benjamin’s notion of “Eingedenken” – a historical consciousness in which the past is not understood and glorified as something closed and complete; a form of remembering that emphasizes the past’s relentless presence. Against the mediating, conciliatory thrust of Erinnerung (memory), Eingedenken remains true to suffering in the past by refusing reconciliation with past wrongs.

Mitchener’s artistic work as a vocalist, movement artist and composer is permeated by the awareness of past and present forms of discrimination, post-colonial wounds and its effect on humanity. the then + the now = now time is an artistic quest to politicize the past, undoing and unsettling time and space using music and movement.

The film was created for Ruhrtriennale Festival 2020 and first shown on 14 August 2020 in lieu of a performance originally planned on 10 September 2020 that was cancelled due to Covid-19. It uses footage from the world premiere performance in Berlin (MaerzMusik 2019) with textual quotes by Walter Benjamin, Sojourner Truth, James Baldwin, and found images.