Pilobolus and Joan
Ed Emshwiller, US, 1973, 58 min., color
Based on Metamorphosed by Carol Emshwiller (a reversal of Kafka’s Metamorphasis). A cockroach wakes up as a four-man-being, falls in love with a girl, and proceeds to encounter the human world. A humorous, surreal journey with a remarkable dance company. (EE)
Preceded by:
Scape-mates
Ed Emshwiller, US, 1972, 16mm, 28 min., color
Scape-mates is a videotape which combines dancers with an environment made by computer animation. It starts with an electronic “big bang”; is seen to be a frame within a frame; body parts suggest primitive life forms; disembodied heads engage in a series of encounters, a strange passage in a vast open space. A monolith changes into an angular, serpentine statue which moves with the dancers. The dancers, filled with electronic flames, emerge and leap about in a place charged with spiraling energy. All elements go through rapid and radical transformations, ending in an architectural maze before disintegration. A mythic, evolutionary journey. (EE)
Note: Scape-mates will be screened on 16mm film.
Dream Dance: The Art of Ed Emshwiller has been supported by The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage.
