Marcella Lista on la ribot

Just as dance has widely entered museums spaces and agendas, to fulfill either experimental or spectacular performative formats, it has also merged with the film and video mediums into new genres, identified with recently coined terms such as screendance or dance with camera. La Ribot’s work rather defies categories. In choreographic pieces such as her long-term piezas distinguidas (1993-2000) or in installations like walk the chair (2010), her multifold practice passes through objects and their manipulation to address and provoke the very idea of dance. Video, thereby, takes part in a complex experiment when it comes to la Ribot’s work. Within her concept of corps-operateur, far from serving as an eye-witness, the camera becomes a highly unstable component in the performance, both object and gaze. While the demystification of the (female) body is at the core of her work, her corporal approach to image-making also reaches a demystification of the image.
The lecture will include various excerpts of la Ribot and other artists’ works.