Événement

Duke & Battersby: Shit Doesnt Have to Be Perfect

Working collaboratively since 1994, Emily Vey Duke & Cooper Battersby create provocatively genuine video works which explore (and evoke) of states of emotional tenderness, empathy and grace. In their complexly confrontational use of such taboo tropes as cuteness, earnest direct address, emotive identification with animals and pop-cultural fixation, Duke & Battersby disarm viewers with sincere gestures of connection while reflecting on such topics as personal identity and empowerment, the social value of fragility and the withering of the concept of the divine in contemporary life. (Steve Polta)

SCREENING: DEAR LORDE (2015) a young-adult saga of self-exploration, involving fan mail sent to primatologist Jane Goodall, bishop Desmond Tutu and the New Zealand teen pop Star Lorde (among others); HERE IS EVERYTHING (2013) a video missive from the future (narrated by cat and rabbit) featuring deep thoughts on death, god and the attainment of grace; DEAR BRITNEY (2013), an epistolary repurposed music video by Ms. Spears and will.i.am; PERFECT NATURE WORLD (2003) which explores a young girls sense of unworthiness in the face of the resplendent wonder of the natural world and a special work-in-progress screening of YOU WERE AN AMAZEMENT ON THE DAY YOU WERE BORN, AND YOU'RE AN AMAZEMENT NOW.