In Ode to Erik Satie (or The Unresolved chords of the fragmented self) I constructed a moving image work made of stills taken from a filmed performance. The work at the formal level aims to break apart moving image as a performance modality using the still image in a similar way to how Erik Satie abstracts his work Gnossiennes number 1. Satie created unresolved chords in his piano works by obstructing the bar lines from his compositions. This was the starting off point for my use of still images to create a moving image performance which tentatively reveals a narrative which combines performance, moving image and photography, as one work.
Erik Satie was interested in using costuming to create different heteronormative characters throughout his life: “including a period in quasi-priestly dress, another in which he always wore identically coloured velvet suits, and is known for his last persona, in neat bourgeois costume, with bowler hat, wing collar and umbrella”. As part of a practice committed to how costuming can help manifest different fragments of the self, I pay homage to the composer by using two sheets of crepe paper to explore how costuming in a performance context can attempt to unveil different aspects of the self and how these can be constructed – as well as taken apart – in one fell swoop.
- #Title: Ode to Satie (The Unresolved Chords of the Fragmented Self)
- #Director: Sasha Monty
- #Choreography: Sasha Monty
- #Country of Production: Belgium
- #Year of Production: 2023
- #Duration: 00:04:32
- #Dance and Acting: Sasha Monty
- #Camera: Sasha Monty
- #Editing: Kevin Lewkovitz
- #Music: Eric Satie Gnossiennes number 1
- #Webpage: www.sashamonty.com
- #Trailer: