Related to the current exhibition The Red Book of C.G. Jung at the Hammer, artists and cultural icons are paired on stage with Jungian analysts or scholars and invited to interpret a folio from Jung’s Red Book as a starting point for a wide-ranging conversation.
This week’s duo featured filmmaker, artist and writer Miranda July, best know of her unique and very personal feature film Me and You and Everyone We Know, and Jungian analyst John Beebe, who concentrates particularly on American cinema in his work.
A little side note – a year or two ago, I got the pleasure of meeting Miranda when she took the same modern dance class as me!
Didn’t know what to expect of this dialogue but my curiosity was uttermost triggered when the two got off to a strange start… “Is this some kind of staged therapy session…?” went through my mind.
Beebe interpreted some of Miranda’ dreams – she acknowledged that most of her writing is based on her dreams -, and linked them to the Jungian theory of “active imagination”: how this translates in film, and to the “jouissance” of making a film?
Both further conversed about the intensity of the process of creating. For Miranda July it means going through a crisis. Beebe: “One has to go through this torture, it is hunting for one’s soul”. The conversation swerved on in this unusual vibe of in-depth “Jungian” observations by Beebe, and spontaneous, sometimes funny mutterings by July. Near the end Miranda even initiated some “performance art”: both are standing on the Red Book, “it supports us”, answering questions by the audience. Per the Jungian theory, Beebe broke down the nurturing of the creative process as follows: “Non Sense = not knowing what to do – vulnerable – see what happens.” Hammering words…
No comments:
Post a Comment