The third party
by Émilie Pitoiset, 2014, 4'
Courtesy the artist and Klemm’s, Berlin

Schermo dell'Arte - Archivio Film  Presented at VISIO – European Programme on Artists’ Moving Images - 4th edition

In her films, Émilie Pitoiset produces unusual scenarios through an often noir and decadent aesthetic, which includes many references to the history of cinema and ballet. By manipulating reality and fiction, and using the aesthetics of found footage, in The third party the artist creates a surreal choreography in which the identity of the main characters is concealed behind black masks. The repetition of everyday actions, removed from their context, takes on new symbolic meanings and helps create a suspended and ambiguous atmosphere in which one can feel the disturbing presence of a dark power. The actors in the film are actually employees from a German bank in which the artist operated in the double role of film-maker and choreographer, subverting the rigid hierarchies that usually govern human relationships in that work sector.

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