Still from “The Mirror of Simple Souls Who Are Annihilated and Remain Only in Will and Desire of Love” (2011) ////////////////////

Amy Patton‘s videos deal with conventions of filmic storytelling, voiceover narration, character acting and pacing. Working in a range of media that includes film, performance, writing, installation and photography, her work explores how we make sense of objects, image and text with the imperfect understanding and irrationality of the way we think.

The talk will include a screening of  two of her films,  including “Oil” (2010) a filmed theater piece and a documentary on the making of the film itself. Taking Upton Sinclair’s Oil! as a point of departure, Patton plays with slippages between the novel’s characters and plot and the experiences of the actors and artist in making the film.

The second film, “The Mirror of the Simple Souls Who Are Annihilated and Remain Only in Will and Desire of Love” is another theater-film work based on an early 14th-century vision and manuscript by the French Christian mystic, anarchist and “Free Spirit” heretic Marguerite Porete. The film shows a cast of non-professional actors, friends and dancers occupying a theater space, being filmed whilst in pursuit of the ecstatic state.

Amy Patton, artist and filmmaker, lives and works in Berlin. She completed studies at the Universität der Künste Berlin and The University of Texas at Austin. Recent solo exhibitions and projects include Bard Center for Curatorial Studies, New York (2009) and the Blaffer Art Museum, Houston (2010); other group shows and screenings have been held at Magazin 4, Bregenz, and Brandenburger Kunstverein, Potsdam (2010); Sculpture Center, New York (2009); Contemporary Image Collective (CIC), Cairo (2008); Museum Ludwig, Cologne (2007); PIEROGI Brooklyn / Leipzig (2006).