Collection

The work "To Valerie Solanas and Marilyn Monroe in Recognition of their Desperation" (2013) is a to-camera performance, in which six musicians play the score entitled "To Valerie Solanas and Marilyn Monroe in Recognition of their Desperation" – a work written in 1971 by an experimental composer, Pauline Oliveros. The work was created on the basis of the Scum Manifesto (SCUM - Society for Cutting Up Men) by Valerie Solanas, in which the feminist writer and activist proved that it is possible for a society composed of women only to function effectively. Nevertheless, unlike the original, which was written as an orchestral (chamber orchestra) work, the piece by Oliveros is played on a guitar, synthesizer and theremin. A 16 mm camera itself is an additional “active” performer in the work. The camera is constantly moving and interacting with the musicians in a single endless shot, which is then modulated in the process of montage – highlighting close-ups and fetishizing details of the body, instruments and costumes. In "To Valerie Solanas and Marilyn Monroe in Recognition of their Desperation", the author asks about the possibilities and limitations of the political character of music and film forms – can sound, rhythm and light become constituents of a revolution? Does intervention and split-up of outdated structures release the feminist and the anomalous?