Artists Space

Anja Kirschner and David Panos:
The Empty Plan

Screening & Discussion
November 16, 2012, 7pm

The recent work of Kirschner and Panos has addressed the relationship between different orders of representation, and the limits of art as a mode of revolutionary practice. The Empty Plan (2010, dur: 78 min) centers on Bertolt Brecht’s exile to Los Angeles in the 1940s, and particularly the relationship between theory and practice in his theater.

A person is standing at the end of a stage, dressed in a long coat, with a stern expression on her face. A man sits at a desk in the corner, his head in his hands. There is a white trifold screen behind them, with an extra chair, and a banner written in German.
Still from The Empty Plan (2010). [A person is standing at the end of a stage, dressed in a long coat, with a stern expression on her face. A man sits at a desk in the corner, his head in his hands. There is a white trifold screen behind them, with an extra chair, and a banner written in German.]

Artists Space : Books & Talks
55 Walker Street

$5 Entrance Donation
Members Free
Limited capacity, entrance on a first come, first served basis

As this film considers a historical and political shift in acting methodolgies, Kirschner and Panos’ 2011 video installation, Living Truthfully Under Imaginary Circumstances deals with the affective dimension of naturalistic performance. Featuring scenes from an acting workshop and archive footage, the work turns to Sanford Meisner’s techniques for stimulating “authentic” emotion in acting, simultaneously seducing the viewer and confronting her with the mechanisms of that seduction.

For this event, a screening of The Empty Plan will be followed by a discussion between Anja Kirschner and artist Andrea Geyer.

The conversation will address modes of dramatic performance and identification in relation to subjectivity, and particularly the function of the affective in relation to the political.

Living Truthfully Under Imaginary Circumstances will be installed at Artists Space : Books & Talks from Friday, October 26 – Sunday, November 18, 2012, and can be visited during opening hours.

Anja Kirschner (1977, Munich, Germany) and David Panos (1971, Athens, Greece) live and work in London, UK. They were the winners of the Jarman Award 2011. Recent solo exhibitions include Ultimate Substance, Secession, Vienna (2012); Living Truthfully Under Imaginary Circumstances, Transmission Gallery, Glasgow (2012); The Projecting Stage, castillo/corrales, Paris (2011); and The Empty Plan, Kunsthall Oslo (2011). Their work was also included in the Liverpool Biennial (2012) and the British Art Show 7 (2010/2011).

A hand is writing in German on a chalkboard with white chalk.
Still from The Empty Plan (2010). [A hand is writing in German on a chalkboard with white chalk.]
Two men dressed in uniform and carrying guns are looking toward the right of the image. They are within the red seats of a theatre; one is sitting and one is standing.
Still from The Empty Plan (2010). [Two men dressed in uniform and carrying guns are looking toward the right of the image. They are within the red seats of a theatre; one is sitting and one is standing.]
A man holding a clipboard at his side walks past a large, columned white wall with palm trees on either end.
Still from The Empty Plan (2010). [A man holding a clipboard at his side walks past a large, columned white wall with palm trees on either end.]

The Empty Plan is funded by Arts Council England through Film London Artists' Moving Image Network, co-produced with City Projects and supported by Focal Point Gallery, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart and Kunsthall Oslo.