28/01/23 - 11/03/23
Manon de Boer
Passage for Persona
Manon de Boer and Latifa Laâbissi
Persona, 2022
HD video, color, sound, 4:3, no dialogue
31 minutes 19 seconds
edition of 5 and 2 A.P.
Persona by Manon de Boer and Latifa Laâbissi turns a cinematic gaze on Écran Somnambule (2012), a performance by Laâbissi, that is in turn based on the film Mary Wigman tanzt (1930), an excerpt of her Hexentanz (1926). In the artists’ film, a physical experience of the disruptive power of the masked figure is conveyed in a circumscribing camera movement. For the exhibition at the gallery Manon de Boer created a second work, Passage for Persona, a site-specific installation in collaboration with wang consulting.
Manon de Boer and Latifa Laâbissi, Persona, 2022
Conception and design of the figure Nadia Lauro (2012); Cinematography Léo Lefèvre; Camera assistant Alexandre Cabanne; Grip Corentin Geisen; LightThomas Bojan & Ludovic Rivière; Sound recording, editing & mixing Laszlo Umbreit; Editing Manon de Boer; Grading Paul Millot at Cobalt; Produced byAuguste Orts & Figure Project; Supported by Flanders Audiovisual Fund & arts centre BUDA
Since 2015 Manon de Boer and Latifa Laâbissi have been in continuous dialogue about the numerous voices that inhabit their thinking and bodies. During a long process of exchange and ‘cannibalizing’, the performance Ghost Party (1) (2021) was created that further lead to the production of the film Ghost Party (2) (2022) as well as Persona (2022). Latifa Laâbissi (born 1964 in Grenoble, France) is a dancer and choreographer, using not only her body and face to produce performances but often adding her voice to challenge the codes of dance, departing from them and rethinking how meaning is created through movement.
Manon de Boer
Cast (Chantal Akerman), 2022
signed certificate and archive box
10,8 x 8,8 cm (Polaroid), 17 x 23,5 cm (box)
edition of 29 unique Polaroids
The edition consists of 29 unique Polaroids, each of which represents an important inspiration for Manon de Boer. In the performance Ghost Party (1) and the film Ghost Party (2), Manon de Boer and choreographer Latifa Laâbissi use vases to give shape to the many voices that inhabit their bodies and their thoughts. This resulted in an ongoing dialogue between, among others, Beyoncé, Marguerite Duras, Pier Paolo Pasolini and Sophie Taeuber-Arp.
“It’s about the ghosts in your life, the voices that come back and haunt you.”
– Manon de Boer
The edition is available for purchase at MDD and Kunstmuseum St. Gallen. Each edition has a certificate of authenticity, in a box specially designed by Clara Gevaert. Only three Polaroids of each vase exist: one exhibition copy, the edition of Kunstmuseum St. Gallen and the edition of MDD. Price: €450 (inc. VAT) per Polaroid.