Sussman sheds light on video art

Author: Alexxa Gotthardt

Last Wednesday Dana Auditorium filled with people eager to see Diego Velásquez's sumptuous masterpiece Las Meninas come to life. No, no waving wands or murmured incantations enlivened Velásquez or conjured the spirits of the Hapsburg family depicted in the famed painting. Yet, as contemporary video artist Eve Sussman turned on her highly acclaimed "89 Seconds at Alcázar," a 10-minute whimsical, fluid re-creation of the moments before and after Velásquez's frozen scene, a different kind of magic and power saturated the auditorium-the magic and power of art.

Sussman graduated in 1984 from Bennington College (just a few hours south of Middlebury) where she studied photography and printmaking. From there, she went on to explore sculpture, installation, video installation, the power of surveillance cameras and, now, the energy of video through interdisciplinary collaboration.

Every year, Middlebury's Studio Art Department, in conjunction with funding from the Committee on the Arts (COTA), brings one guest artist to campus for a several-day residency. When Assistant Professor of Studio Art Hedya Klein was asked to brainstorm ideas for the 2005-2006 artist-in-residence, she immediately thought of Sussman, whose "89 Seconds" had mesmerized her, along with countless critics, at the 2004 Whitney Biennial. "It was very interesting for me to see this fantastic piece of classical painting applied to contemporary art," said Klein. "Many artists have dealt with this painting, but to turn it into video is a very fresh, very moving way to look at it. With video, Eve crosses boundaries and reaches out to a larger audience, really taking into account other disciplines outside art history and fine art."

The interdisciplinary aspect of Sussman's work was especially evident when, after showing four clips of the finished product, she presented a behind-the-scenes look at "89 Seconds" with the "making-of" video "Inside 89 Seconds at Alcázar." As Sussman's camera swoops in and out of rehearsals watching and interacting with artists, actors, choreographers, dancers, musicians, set-designers and costume-designers, the importance of this convergence of creative minds is unmistakable. Walter Sipser, visual artist and musician who also happened to play Velásquez in "89 Seconds" pointed to the benefits of collaborative work. "Our work is collaborative in the way that a modern dance company or experimental theatre company works in that people try stuff and you weed out what you don't think works and you keep what you do think works and you put stuff together in this more organic way" said Sussman.

Out of the collaborative success of "89 Seconds" the artist's collective The Rufus Corporation was born. The Rufus Corporation, headed by Eve, consists of many of the contributers to "89 Seconds" as well as several additions. After showing the clips and making-of video of the first film, Sussman also gave a glimpse into the corporation's current work-in-progress, "The Rape of the Sabine Women," a video based upon the ancient myth and David's painting of the same name. Through a trailer and hundreds of beautiful film stills, the audience saw Sussman's reinterpretation of the myth - an arresting, frenzied battle between 1960s CIA operatives and their opponents during which women intervene in an attempt to break up the fight taking place between bustling meat markets, an ancient amphitheatre, an all-too-quiet museum, a crowded airport and a beautiful, elegant 1960s mansion overlooking the Aegean Sea. The impression is all at once violent, mysterious and beautiful, and is enhanced greatly by the eerie soundtrack of whispers, coughs and cries by Jonathan Bepler, the man behind the sounds of the Matthew Barney "Cremaster" Films.

Why this scenario? Why this video? Sussman gives the audience an answer. Like her goal for "89 Seconds," Sussman hopes "The Rape of the Sabine Women" will reach out to a wide range of people and make them think, make them feel. "The fight choreography in mainstream movies always has this sort of sanitized machismo to it that makes the violence okay. As soon as you put women and children in there and start taking off people's clothes, it's not so okay anymore," said Sussman. "The hope was to make something that was way more rich and way more screwed up - way less logical. I wanted to try to get rid of the logic because really violence is illogical. I want to make people stop in their tracks."

In addition to showing her work and answering questions on Wednesday night, Sussman also made time during her three-day stay to meet with a dance class, a set design class and several studio art majors.

Whether it was through her work, her lecture or her one-on-one interaction with students from a wide range of disciplines, Sussman definitely made many Middlebury students and faculty stop in their tracks and think, for there seemed to be an overall positive response to the artist's stay on campus. "It was great because a wide-range of students could ask questions and personally interact with Eve, a very successful, talented contemporary artist," said Klein. Studio Art major Caitlyn Ottinger '06 echoed this thought: "Bringing contemporary artists like Eve Sussman to the campus is crucial at a school like Midd. Tucked away in the Green Mountains, it is easy to forget there is an art world out there with a pulse, so that kind of exposure is invaluable."