The film is a self-portrait and reflection of a male individual born in the communist era, in the third generation from 1918, currently living in an EU with open borders, while very much remembering and reflecting on his roots and traditions from his homeland, Slovakia. But where is this new generation of individuals heading? Let’s keep in mind the constant seeking of personal identity and pride and the taking for granted of things that were extremely socio-politically abstract only a few decades ago. We quickly forget the pain, suffering and dreams of our great-grandparents.
Sometimes idiosyncratic and quirky, and at others, seeming to be a typical by-product of the Czechoslovak uprising, this film is a metaphor for the constantly searching man who experiences a continuous loss. Through this film, we question this creative concept in a blend of performance, media and digital postproduction.
Memoryhouse Productions is an interdisciplinary collective that creates performance, installation, film and photography for theatre, gallery and site specific spaces. We are both freelance dancers and dance makers based in Brussels, Belgium. We use movement to generate a fusion of works in exploring other media. Our interest in other media is what sparked the initial idea of collaboration. We are passionate about storytelling without words and through the body, investigating the uses of energy, emotion and physicality. Combining multiple art forms allows for the production of versatile creations, which encourages a cross-pollination of audiences.
In 2013-2014 we produced Dreams, a series of dance films and photography, in which we choreographed, directed, filmed, and edited every aspect of the series. The series was created in Belgium and Slovakia, co-produced by Charleroi Danses, the Slovak Ministry of Arts and the Slovak Ministry of Culture. Dreams’ films have been presented at festivals such as Danseur festival (BE), Kiosk Festival Zilina (SK), Cinedans festival (NL) and Festival International de Video Danse de Bourgogne (FR). An extension of Dreams is the installation performance Labyrinth, which was performed in the basement of an abandoned power plant as part of the exhibition’s Slovak premiere in 2015. During this period, inspired by fantasy and imagination, we were commissioned to create Castle in the Air, a performance work for the Passerelle Company in Kortrijk, Belgium, which toured in 2015-2016. We have collaborated on numerous dance films such as Lapsus with Iris Bouche and Errorigiudiziari Italy. For our dance film Mind’s eye, Jamie was chosen to be featured in Women Cinemakers 2017, celebrating female filmmakers worldwide. This year we premiered Dis-ease which is a realtime interdisciplinary, interactive dance and technology performance with guest artist Ofer Smilansky.
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