21/08

Babeth M. Vanloo - ’Arnold Schwarzenegger - The Art of Bodybuilding’ (2020,8’)

During the seventies, the artist filmed Arnold Schwarzenegger during the Mr. Olympia bodybuilding competition. The unedited 16mm film is a remnant of a lost installation in which Schwarzenneger talks like a living work of art about his vision on classic sculpture, body and mind, beauty ideals and more.

A dialectic montage that introduces the zeitgeist of the late 70’s. Vanloo, nspired by Johnny Rotten’s lyrics ‘I wanna go over the Berlin Wall’, contrasts images of the Berlin Wall with the politically engaged punk mentality of the Sex Pistols. She reworks the recording of the band’s concert in San Francisco, Sid Vicious’ last, to a document of the countermovement.

+ Film of choice: ‘Mongoloid’ (1978, 4’) - Bruce Conner

A documentary about the way in which a determined young man overcame a mental disability and became a useful member of society. Insightful editing techniques reveal the dreams, ideals and problems facing a large part of the American, male population. The soundtrack by the DEVO orchestra:

Mongoloid, he was a mongoloid, happier than you and me.

Mongoloid, he was a mongoloid, and it determined what he could see.

Mongoloid, he was a mongoloid, one chromosome too many.

And he wore a hat, and he had a job

And he brought home the bacon so that no one knew

+ Film of choice: ‘Superbia – der Stolz’ (1986, 15’) - Ulrike Ottigner

In Superbia – der Stolz, images of a baroque, carnivalesque parade led by Pride, one of the seven sins, alternate with archival footage of all kinds of military parades. This surrealistic film by a transgressive and feminist filmmaker navigates Freak Orlando through five chapters of a gender bending, shapeshifting history of the world.

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