Sanctus

Part of Pavilion Shorts: Barbara Hammer on October 2.

Using X-ray images of human bodies, Barbara Hammer creates a fascinating and playful collage of everyday activities such as applying lipstick, drinking water, shaving, and playing the trumpet. Captured in X-rays, these ordinary actions take on an uncanny and often comical quality. Hammer intercuts these images, upturns them, and transforms them with vivid hues, creating an occasionally expressionistic explosion of color. The visuals are further propelled by the arresting soundtrack of American composer Neil B. Rolnick, whose music plays a major role in shifting the tone of this abstract film between the humorous and the ominous.

Hammer’s work frequently centered on questions concerning health, illness, and the human body. She made Sanctus as the AIDS crisis was spreading, when she involved herself as an AIDS activist. This short work can be seen as a tribute to the human body—an exquisitely tuned yet unnervingly fragile mechanism.

This screening is part of Focus: Barbara Hammer, a program presenting films by American filmmaker and visual artist Barbara Hammer. See the full program here.