Ovation

​2013, HD video, stereo, 6:15

Two gameshow hostesses communicate through their allotted medium: applause. In a sparsely extradimensional studio where letterboard, wheel and quizmaster have been usurped by a large illuminated 'O', they applaud with ever-increasing enthusiasm, trading rhythms until their compulsory clapping turns uncannily compulsive. The abstract O could represent infinity, zen, null, surprise, completion, emptiness, birth, death, even sexual climax. The women who usually occupy a supporting role have created a new language, mesmerising in its skill, drive, and efficiency. 

Ovation is part of a suite of works plotting and re-staging the finite gestural vocabulary of hostesses across a range of genres, periods and cultures.

Screenings/Exhibitions
Videoaktion #4, Berlin 2023
Les Femmes Underground International Film Festival, San Diego 2017
Visionaria, Siena, Italy 2017
Cairo Video Festival 2015
Beyond Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, UNSW Galleries, Sydney 2015
Film Cunst, Brenda May Gallery 2014
Sizzle, Ensemble Offspring 2014
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Credits
Composer: Bree van Reyk
Light and camera: Campbell Drummond
Camera assist and stills: Matt Fatches
Sound: Lindsay Webb 
Performance: Claire Edwardes, Bree van Reyk
Makeup and hair: Glitta Supanova

Links
Watch video