Directed by Pauline Curnier Jardin
Image by Pauline Curnier Jardin and Julien Hogert Music and Sound Design by Vincent Denieul Editing by Margaux Parillaud Drums by Benjamin Coli Co-production by Le Confort Moderne, Poitiers and the Rijksakademie Van Beeldende Kunsten, Amsterdam Distribution by EYE Film Instituut Netherlands

Explosion Ma Baby

Mixed media installation, HD video 9 min
2016

It’s August. Feel the suffocating heat of the sun penetrating your skin. All around you, an abundance of flesh is spinning. Thousands of men offer up the naked bodies of baby boys to the angelic icon of San Sebastian. Screams, colours, chants and explosions. Money-garlands. Imagine no wo- men except me. Wait, yes, behind us women are following with devotion, all dressed up in well pressed clothes and their stocking feet.

Now, come back here. Imagine how badly I fell in love with this. I despera- tely want to be part of it. To be there. I wanted to belong. But I know that I can’t. And so I try to capture it on film. I go there and film it every year, over and over, again and again. One day I will tell the story of a poor and sterile man who wants to replace San Sebastian. But more summers will have to pass before our hero will appear.

Exhibition views of RijksakademieOpen, Amsterdam, NL, 26-27
November 2016, and Scattered Disc, Futura Project, Prague, CZ, 25 April – 11 June 2017; stills from films and preparatory sketch