Video dance in selected latent spaces by Ana Baer
«Video dance is a hybrid medium, it is the collaboration of the camera and dance, of cinematography and choreography», under this concept the Mexican Ana Baer Carrillo develops an intense work that she is currently reflecting in Cuba through the exhibition Espacios Latentes (Latent Spaces).
The exhibition consists of works directed, produced, edited and filmed by Baer Carrillo in collaboration with Heike Salzer and Rocio Luna, and curated by Andrés D. Abreu for the Diversity Hall of the Historic Center of Havana.
Themes such as the fragile nature-human relationship and the exploration of magic realism through the environment are perceived in this exhibition, which was inaugurated on April 21 as part of the 17th International Festival of Dance in Urban Landscapes Old Havana: City in Motion.
«We have been recording for 10 years, in different countries and different places. We have recorded in Iceland, England, in Mexico there are several projects, in the United States, and all of this is a conversation that dance has with cinematography and the environment,» artist Ana Baer told Radio Enciclopedia.
The audiovisuals are accompanied by several photographs entitled Thule 2016 (by Ingri Jensson), Wild-er-ness 2017 (Jessica Beer), Parakata 2018 (Baer), and Sympoiesis 2022 (Eric Sanchez).
Heike Salzer is a German dancer, and together we directed two of the pieces: Thule, which was made in Iceland, and Wild-er-ness, which was made on a location in England, explains the project’s general director.
«What many of us are doing is documenting the dance with the phone or with the camera, that is not what we are talking about, we are talking about a cinematographic interplay of the dance or a choreographic interplay of the cinematography. So it is this interplay where both the camera work and the body work are very important, and we have to give priority to both,» he added.
During Espacios Latentes, which runs until May 12 at Amargura, No.60, e/ Mercaderes y San Ignacio, the works La Sabina 2019, IXCHEL 2021 and Sympoiesis 2022 will be exhibited for the first time.
Since 1990, the work of Ana Baer, artistic co-director of the Sans Souci Dance Film Festival and member of the Ibero-American Video Dance Network, a space for collaboration and exchange between festivals and artists, has been a highlight of the cultural scene.
Translated by Luis E. Amador Dominguez
