World Premiere of commissioned feature film “( )” at the Invisible Dog Art Center
Company:
Invisible Dog Art Center!
The Invisible Dog Art Center will present the world premiere of commissioned feature film “( )” (verbally pronounced “whole”), created by queer/feminist porn studio AORTAfilmsin collaboration with performance group theA.O.MovementCollective. Screenings will take placeFridayJanuary4that9pm, SaturdayJanuary5that7pm,andSundayJanuary6that2pmand7pmat The Invisible Dog Art Center, 51 Bergen St. Brooklyn, New York 11201. Blending performance art, dance, and explicit sex, ( ) explores the incredible potency of queer hedonism, investigating how the authentic performativity of kink and queer porn can evolve trauma into orgasm, and grief into politically radical, transformative, body-based joy. ( ) investigates the complexity of pleasure, exploring the so-called obscenity of bodies in their most tremendous capacity—their glorious, illicit humanity. A toast will follow the Saturday night screening, and a talkback with the cast and crew will following the Sunday matinee.
( ) is an evening-length film created by queer/feminist porn studio AORTAfilmsin collaboration with performance company theA.O.MovementCollective, developed over two years through a collaborative process. Their work together negotiates pornographic embodiment as a sex-positive trans-inclusive practice rooted in femme caretaking and risk, and contextualizes itself as choreographic - blending dance, performance art, kink, and explicit sex to form a wholly new medium, which could be described as explicit art. Filmed by Holyrad Studio and edited and colored by Lanee Bird with an original score composed by Ashur Rayis, the work features an interdisciplinary cast of performers—three dance performers (Special Guest, the Shape, and Trouble Clef), five adult performers (Alice the Wolf, Papi Femme, Shay Knox, Evie Snax, and Ginny Woolf), and two crossover performers who work in both fields (Parts Authority and Erykah Ohms.) Created and directed by Mahx Capacity and choreographed by Sarah A.O. Rosner, the film was developed in collaboration with the performers, and through AORTA films’ “F*CKLAB” practice.
At turns lush, humorous, sincere, erotic, joyful, and intense, ( ) forsakes traditional expectations of “porn” to create an unexpectedly textured landscape of desire. Amidst ecstatic water balloon fights, opulent feasts devoured without utensils, narrations of pleasure, lewd hand gestures, densely scored orgies, improvisational performance, and intense kink dynamics, ( ) proposes a new type of pornography: a world of queer sex that is at once surreally lush and intensely real. The film celebrates queer pleasure as a type of queer resistance, while inviting viewers of all identities towards their own human capacity for pleasure. In investigating pleasure as inherently entwined with the complexities of loss and struggle, the AOMC’s director Sarah A.O. Rosner writes “…experimental pornography is the ideal medium for this endeavor. Cutting through experimental performance’s insularity and white supremacy, pornography is immediate, incendiary: undeniably legible. Like live performance, queer porn powerfully triggers authentic, instantaneous responses which a viewer must rectify with their preexisting selfhood. It kicks hairline fractures into oppressive systems, explicitly centering the humanity of individuals traditionally devalued by capitalism, ableism, racism, and transmisogyny. There is no wrong way to have a body or an orgasm. Queer porn can take viewers by their hearts, minds, and genitals to incite change; it is a way to say I see you, I will fight for your joy, I will revel with you in your humanity. It celebrates how fiercely we exist.”
( ) was commissioned by the Invisible Dog Art Center and supported by a grant from the Effing Foundation for Sex Positivity, the film’s Executive Producer.
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AORTA films creates lusty, opulent, ethical fuckery. Founded by Creative Director Mahx Capacity, and Performer/Producers Parts Authority and Ginny Woolf, AORTA films creates queer/feminist pornography that disrupts boundaries and glitches desire. Working out of DIY and experimental performance contexts, they create content that centers performers across a wide range of bodies, genders, races, and identities. They work collaboratively, prioritizing safe and enthusiastically consensual creative processes, and are obsessed with creating aesthetics and narratives that explode with destabilizing pleasure. They screen and distribute worldwide, most recently winning Best International Short Film at the Hacker Porn Film Festival in Rome, and one Judge’s and one Audience Award at BRIEFS in Oakland, CA. www.AORTAfilms.com
Founded in 2006 by Sarah A.O. Rosner, the A.O. Movement Collective has made a name for itself as a ravenously experimental force in NYC’s performance community. The AOMC investigates pomo-humanism via a rigorous love affair with the aesthetics of mess. The company is made up of movers and shakers, rockstars, researchers, ever- glitching techno-bodies, humans invested in deep presence and sincere pretending. Their work unpacks the difficult lushness of human being, valuing questions above answers and maximalism above ease. Premiering works at venues including Joyce SoHo, HERE Arts, and the Museum of Arts and Design, and through experimental venues including rooftops, Airbnb rentals, and digital economies, they create work open to the terror of being undeniably new in content, culture, and form. Rosner is a 2018/2019 Artist in Residence at Movement Research. www.theAOMC.org
HOLYRADStudiois a production studio and creative agency that utilizes the regenerative power of freelance culture to directly empower marginalized artists in our community. Holyrad Studio envisions a world where artists, no matter who you are or where you come from, can access and participate in the creative industry. www.holyradstudio.com
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Tickets will be available through The Invisible Dog Art Center’s website: http://theinvisibledog.org/by-aorta-films/ by donation, suggested at $10, with no one turned away for lack of funds.
Websites: www.AORTAfilms.com, www.theaomc.org
Instagram:@AORTAfilmswillneverdie, @theaomc, @holyrad_studio
Facebook: @AORTAfilms, @theAOMC
Friday January 4th at 9pm
Saturda yJanuary 5th at 7pm; reception following, play party“(present)” following at 10pm at nearby location**
Sunday January 6th at 2pm; talk back with cast and crew following, and 7pm
Director/Creator: Mahx Capacity Filmmaker: Holyrad Studio Composer: Ashur Rayis
Performers: Parts Authority, Ginny Woolf, Erykah Ohms, Trouble Clef, The Shape, Special Guest, Shay Knox, Papi Femme, Evie Snax, Alice the Wolf
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