Rising
Stars Falling Stars - Vaginal Davis & Jayne County &
Kunstverein Hamburg - August 2014 by Filmanzeiger on
Mixcloud
Rising Stars, Falling Stars goes on tour to Hamburg as part of the International Summer Festival and the exhibition "A Paradise Built In Hell" at the world famous KunstVerein. Take the train with Ms. Davis, Arsenal Empress Stefanie Schulte Strathaus and Skandinavian Muzlim Daniel Hendrickson as they assault the St. George District.
Back in Berlina after over a month teaching a block seminar called Framing the Freakazoid at the Institute of Applied Theatre Sciences at the Justus Liebig Universitaet Giessen. I had a marvelous time with my young charges who were a brilliant and talented bunch of artists. As a final class presentation they decided to do a 1960s style akshunist happening called Colateral Glamage. The students broke into groups to handle costumes, make-up & hair, art direction,lighting, choreography, music and even created an art bar of potent cocktails in a cultish atmosphere of intimacy and wonder. For a program they did an olde fashion cut&paste zine called Glamage. Because this was a summer seminar I didn’t expect much of an audience for the final class presentation, but surprisingly almost 100 people packed the tiny rehearsal stage where the eventa took place and we had a celebrity sighting in the form of pop starlet Justin Bieber who was in town visiting his new lover who is a Giessen student. I resisted being a control queen and taking over from the students. My job was just to be a muse and provide inspiration. Utlizing elaborate make-up and costuming is something that isn’t done so much at the Institute for Applied Theatre Sciences in Giessen so the audience was really wowed by the proceedings and of course I was every bit the proud mama. On my last night the students treated Love Camel and I to a fabulous dinner at Die Kate Restaurant in Bismarque Strasse. I was exhausted beyond measure as earlier in the day we had to clean-up the stage and also do a formal critique of the performance. I also created a special award for some of the students called The Alles Uber Eva based on the 1950 Hollywood film classic All About Eve. I’m going to miss my time with the students of Giessen, but I know that we will be reunited for other projects in the future as all my former students aren’t able to get rid of me that easily. I will go on art directing their entire lives whether they like it or not.
Back in Berlin fearless leader of kollectiv CHEAP Susanne Sachsse cooked a heavenly return dinner for me. Love Camel and I were a more then a bit sick of each other after such a long time sharing a cramped space in Giessen. I adore Camel but he is going through a bit of a mid life crisis these days and like most Camels he is grumpy and prone to nuclear hissy spitting.
Even though I had to literally go into a coma upon my return to Berlin, I couldn’t miss the surprise farewell party for longtime senior Arsenal projectionist Oushi who is retiring after 40 years of continuous service. I have a special relationship with Oushi. At my very first presentation at the Arsenal ten years ago when they did a Vaginal Davis retrospectacle of my Trespass Cinema Underground Ouvre she was in the projection room and she yelled at me in her unmistakeable no nonsense Berliner style. Anyone who can get away with screaming at the Vagimule Doll earns her admiration and love. Every month when I present Rising Stars, Falling Stars I get a kick out of asking Oushi’s approval of my outfit. It won’t be the Arsenal without Oushi and it also won’t be the Berlinale Film Festival without her----she is a one of a kind treasure.
