p. staff’s vibrant, colour-coded video uses text from Heinrich von Kleist’s 19th-century play of the same name to present themes of persecution and punishment, meditating upon contemporary issues of gender, queer resistance, and the carceral state. With an unconventional narrative structure, staff’s video cuts together a narration of Kleist’s play with interviews, conversation, found footage, hand-painted animation, and song. In a series of fragmented ‘daytime’ sequences, a range of artists, writers, and performers reflect on contemporary queer and trans identities and their proximity to desire and violence. Intercut with flashes of the sun and sky, city streets and text, subjects include Sarah Schulman, Che Gossett, Macy Rodman, and Debra Soshoux. Each of these segments is punctuated by ‘night-time’ diversions, narrated by Johanna Hedva in the dual role of both narrator and Prince.
Film / video · Film / video