Screening

About Mara Mattuschka: Painting on Celluloid

Mara Mattuschka is one of the most important artists working in experimental cinema today. Bulgarian-born and currently based in Austria, Mattuschka is a multi-hyphenate—actress, painter, professor, performance artist, producer—whose work highlights the mutability of women's bodies and their power to reshape gendered norms and expectations. Mattuschka often functions as the only protagonist in her films, allowing her body to work as a canvas, an object and subject that is painted, extended, trimmed, deformed with special effects, and more. Embedded in this work is a continuous and powerful analysis of experimental Hollywood film productions past and present. Film in the program include:

• Kugelkopf (Mara Mattuschka, 1985, 6 min)
• Les Miserables (Mara Mattuschka, 1987, 2 min)
• Der Untergang der Titania (Mara Mattuschka, 1985, 4 min)
• ID (Mara Mattuschka, 2003, 10 min)
• Danke, es hat mich sehr gefreut (Mara Mattuschka, 1987, 2 min)
• Der Schöne, die Biest (Mara Mattuschka, 1993, 10 min)
• Kaiser Schnitt (Mara Mattuschka, 1987, 4 min)
• S.O.S. Extraterrestria (Mara Mattuschka, 1993, 10 min)
• Comeback (Mara Mattuschka, 2005, 14 min)
• Legal Errorist (Mara Mattuschka & Chris Haring, 2005, 15 min)
• Running Sushi (Mara Mattuschka & Chris Haring, 2008, 28 min)
• Burning Palace (Mara Mattuschka & Chris Haring, 2009, 32 min)

"Mattuschka has made her body both medium and site in her tenebrous, theatrical shorts since the early '80s." — Another Gaze Journal

"From the 1980s on, Mattuschka shot numerous short solo works: poetical, political, playful. Inspired by everyday and simple movements, she practices a range of bright and rebellious behaviours." — Sixpack Films

This program is supported by the Eskenazi Museum of Art and the Eskenazi School of Art, Architecture + Design.

Any film screened at IU Cinema may contain content that viewers find sensitive or upsetting. Visit our Audience Advisories page to learn more.