The Poetics of the Real: Video Workshop with Minnette Vári

Sunday 19 July 2015, 2-4pm
Sa Sa Art Projects #26-28 E2, the White Building, Sothearos Blvd.
In Khmer and English translation

It is commonly assumed that documentary filmmaking offers the viewer a faithful representation of the “real”, and its narratives often occupy the position of “telling the truth as it is”. Yet, even the most “transparent” documentaries are as carefully scripted and edited, as meticulously constructed as those in any film genre.

As videographers and filmmakers, we know that editing involves a strict process of inclusion of certain content and the exclusion of the remainder. Thus, the focus of the viewer is consciously directed by the filmmaker or producer to convey the desired message. We also know from certain modes of poetry, music, narration and conversation, that a message engages an audience more strongly when conveyed through metaphor and allegory.

The original meaning, in Greek, of poetry, simply means “to make”. In this workshop we will explore the potential of a poetic approach, even when the goal is to produce a balanced documentary as opposed to a work of art or fiction. I’d like to propose that poetry is never missing from anything that we create, and as filmmakers we should be especially aware of the “poetics of the real”.

About Artist

Minnette Vári (b. 1968, Pretoria, South Africa) works in diverse media, from ink drawing to video installations, often incorporating performance elements into reworked media and historical documentary footage. Her work has been thematically linked to exhibitions and symposia exploring themes of identity, mythology, transition, politics, trauma and history. Publications featuring her work include Art Cities of the Future, 21st Century Avant-Gardes (Phaidon 2013), Sue Williamson’s South African Art Now (Harper Collins 2009) and 10 years 100 Artists, Art in a Democratic South Africa, Sophie Perryer (ED) (Bell-Roberts 2004).

Vári has exhibited her work since the early nineties, participating in such group exhibitions as the Second Johannesburg Biennale (1997), the Venice Biennale (2001 and 2007), and the 10th Biennale of Havana (2009). Her solo exhibitions include a monographic solo exhibition at the Art Museum Lucerne, Switzerland (2004), Vigil at Elga Wimmer Gallery, New York (2007), Chimera at Basel Art Unlimited (2003) and most recently, Songs of Excavation at the Goodman Gallery in Johannesburg (2013). She will present a mid-career retrospective at the Standard Bank Gallery in Johannesburg in early 2016. Vári holds a Masters of Fine Art from the University of Pretoria in 1997 and lives and works in Johannesburg. More about Minnette Vári at www.minnettevari.com