MATURE CONTENT
VIDEO PERFORMANCE, 2007
In Closer—a work that is on the edge of video performance and fiction—I handle a dead octopus in a bathtub. The octopus is evocative of monstrous and mythical attributes, but it also incorporates an engaging and seductive power. I embody the ambiguity of its symbolic aspects to create a personal ritual to dissolve a passion that shall be extinguished. As in the second phase of the alchemical process dissolutio, Closer is about dissolving and purifying the somberness inside. By giving external weight to what should be transformed, I strove towards freedom and transcendence.
Closer is part of the live performance Walk East – Erotic Poems by Norma Kluster.
CREDITS
Concept, Performance and Text by Cristiane Bouger
Direction of Photography by Roger Regner
Direction Assistant: Sueli Rocha
Editing by Marco Caruso
Original Soundtrack by Gustavo Bitencourt
EXHIBITIONS AND SCREENINGS
NEW YORK CITY, USA
2019 Bushwick Open Studios, Umwelt Studio, September 22-23
2015 The Nudity Is Not Malicious – Video Performance, Photography and Documentation, as part of Bushwick Open Studios, June 5–7, 2015.
2012-2013 Immoderate Bodies – Couve-Flor Video Performances, at chashama 461 Gallery. December 14, 2012–January 5, 2013.
2007 As part of Walk East – Erotic Poems by Norma Kluster, Dixon Place – Page to Stage. May 2007. Curated by Leslie Strongwater.
CURITIBA, BRAZIL
2014 Tupi or Not Tupi, Museu Oscar Niemeyer. May–September, 2014. Curated by Eliana Borges.
2011 Mostra de Repertório Couve-Flor, Teatro Cleon Jacques, as part of Walk East – Erotic Poems by Norma Kluster. August 11, 2011.
2009 Vídeo Escuta, A Grande Garagem que Grava. November 2009. Curated by Margit Leisner.
2007 As part of Walk East – Erotic Poems by Norma Kluster. ACT – Ateliê de Criação Teatral. October, 2007.
CHICAGO, USA
2013 Rapid Pulse – International Performance Art Festival, at The Nightgale. June 2013. Curated by Julie Laffin and Giana Gambino.
JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA
2008 Montage Video Dance Festival – Fringe Program, 2008. Curated by Jeannette Ginslov.
PARIS, FRANCE
2007 9ème Festival des Cinèmas Differénts, L'Archipel Paris Cine, December 2007. Curated by Collectif Jeune Cinema.
BUCHAREST, ROMANIA
2011 As part of Walk East – Erotic Poems by Norma Kluster, Towards the Gaze and the Meaning –works by Cristiane Bouger, at Atelierul de Productie. May 2011. Curated by Vava Stefanescu.
