Meditation on Violence

In Meditation on Violence (1948) Deren's camera is motivated by the movement of the performer, Chao Li Chi. This film is marked by a lack of dynamism and mobility that we have come to expect from Deren's camera.

It also obscures the distinction between violence and beauty. The shadows on the white wall behind Chi amplify the movement of the Wu Tang ritual. In Meditation on Violence Deren experiments with film time, reversing the film part way through producing a loop.

Exhibited forwards and then backwards, the difference in the Wu Tang movements is almost imperceptible.

cybershamans (karmapolice) / CC BY-NC-ND 3.0

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Maya Deren At Land Pt.1

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Maya Deren - Meshes of the Afternoon (1943)

Meshes of the Afternoon (1943) is a short experimental film directed by wife and husband team, Maya Deren and Alexander Hammid.

The film's narrative is circular, and repeats a number of psychologically symbolic images, including a flower on a long driveway, a key falling, a door unlocked, a knife in a loaf of bread, a mysterious Grim Reaper-like cloaked figure with a mirror for a face, a phone off the hook and an ocean.

Through creative editing, distinct camera angles, and slow motion, the surrealist film depicts a world in which it is more and more difficult to catch reality.

cybershamans (karmapolice) / CC BY-NC-ND 3.0

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MAYA DEREN-SINK

Maya Deren's Sink (clip) from barbara hammer on Vimeo.

cybershamans (karmapolice) / CC BY-NC-ND 3.0

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