EVANN SIEBENS
'Chromatic Revelry'
November 6 - 28

Opening Reception:  Saturday, November 6, 5-8pm
Screening at 6.30pm & Artist Talk at 7pm

  A series of 10 short films, ‘Chromatic Revelry’ connects the ordered harmonic scale of J.S. Bach’s ‘Well-Tempered Clavier’ with the chaos of rave culture.  Shot on Super 8 film in clubs and at raves from 1998-2000, including the desert revel ‘Burning Man’ in Nevada, the piece suggests a timelessness to raves, celebration and dance.  A synthesis of the artist’s experimental dancefilm work with more traditional documentary films, it also brings a personal sensibility, reflecting her own fascination with rave and club dancing (and featuring some of her own dancing).  Yet by choosing to edit the documentary footage to the preludes and fugues of J.S. Bach’s ‘Well-Tempered Clavier’ the piece transcends regular 90’s rave culture. With its archival Super 8 footage and chromatic, orderly music, the film becomes trans-historical, lost in time, and commenting on the nature of revelry and celebration rather than a particular moment in history.

  Evann Siebens specializes in making media about movement. Her short films, documentaries and media installations have been shown on PBS, NPS and at venues such as Eyebeam, The Georges Pompidou Centre, MOMA, The Hammer Museum and Lincoln Centre.  A former dancer with the National Ballet of Canada and the Bonn Ballet in Germany, Evann graduated from New York University’s film school.  She has created media with the former Frankfurt Ballett in Germany and attended residences at the Banff Centre for the Arts, at UCLA and at Dance Theater Workshop in New York.  Based in Vancouver, Evann recently co-curated and shared artistic direction for containR – a mobile film festival in stacked, reconditioned shipping containers that was featured during the 2010 Olympic Games and 2009 Cultural Olympiad.