REDCAT Presents 'Anatomie Titus: Fall of Rome,' Discussion with Peter Sellars to Follow, 10/27

REDCAT in partnership with Villa Aurora and the Goethe-Institut Los Angeles proudly present the U.S. premiere of Anatomie Titus: Fall of Rome, a new film from Berlin-based photographer and filmmaker Brigitte Maria Mayer, on Tuesday, October 27, 2009 at REDCAT. The screening will be followed by a discussion with the artist, noted director and theorist John Rouse, and renowned director Peter Sellars.

Anatomie Titus: Fall of Rome traces a via dolorosa through the modern world in a timely new film based on Heiner Müller's excoriating 1984 adaptation of Titus Andronicus, Shakespeare's blood-soaked revenge drama. Presented as a triptych that is as lyrical as it is terrifying, Mayer's piece extends Müller's parable to a global narrative of contemporary empire in which footage shot on locations across Africa and Asia is contrasted against highly stylized in-studio passages featuring cinema icon Jeanne Moreau (appearing as Goth queen Tamora). Müller, the most provocative playwright of the erstwhile East Germany, used his commentary to address imperial violence and the fateful cycle of brutality it begets; Mayer's Anatomie Titus: The Fall of Rome reminds us that those concerns remain just as relevant today, 20 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Ms. Mayer studied photography and performance at the Hochschule für Visuelle Kommunikation, and has had significant performances and exhibitions of her work in cities throughout Europe and Asia. Although REDCAT's screening of Anatomie Titus: The Fall of Rome marks her work's debut in front of American audiences, critic Irene Bazinger wrote in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung that Anatomie Titus: The Fall of Rome is "an adventurous, independently conceived work on the process of civilization, the collateral damages of progress, and everyday media overflow," after its enthusiastic reception in Berlin last Spring.

The screening at REDCAT is co-presented with Villa Aurora and the Goethe-Institut Los Angeles and funded in part with generous support from Wendy Keys and Donald Pels.

BRIGITTE MARIA MAYER -- Born 1965 in Regensburg; 1986 - 1990 studies at the Hochschule fuer visuelle Kommunikation in Kassel, specializing in photography (Floris M. Neusuess) and performance (Harry Kramer); living and working as an artist in Berlin since 1990; from 1992 till his death in 1995 married to dramatist Heiner Müller, with whom she has one daughter Anna Müller.

Performances (selected): 1987 "Sisyphus," performance in the Salzmann factory, Kassel; 1987 "Fatal Love," performance as part of the festival of performance art of Documenta 8, Kassel; 1988 "Electra Field of Battle," performance at the Sektor 29 performance space, Kassel; 2006 "Revolution Trade Fair," Literaturhaus Frankfurt am Main; 2006 "Death is a Mistake - Federal Republic of Germany models of revolution and beauty," video installation at Valhalla/Donaustauf; 2009 "Anatomie Titus: Fall of Rome," filmische Installation: Akademie der Künste, Berlin with an exhibition 04/24 - 05/25 ; Festwochen Herrenhausen "In Between," Hannover 05/30 - 06/06; Le Reemdoogo - Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, in cooperation with the Goethe-Institut Burkina Faso, 06/13; Shizuoka Spring Arts Festival 2009, Japan 07/04-07/05; REDCAT Theatre, Los Angeles, in cooperation with Villa Aurora 10/27; Goethe-Institute, Los Angeles 10/28.

Individual Exhibitions (selected): 1992 "Perfect Sister," Fiction inc. Gallery, Tokyo; "Allied Powers," Haus der Demokratie, Berlin; 1994 "In Canova's Lens" Erotic Art Museum, Hamburg; 1995 L.A. Galerie, Frankfurt am Main; 1996 Goethe Institute Chicago (in conjunction with a lecture at the Chicago Art Institute); "Colour spaces," Galerie Kyra Maralt, Berlin; 1998 Kunsthaus Nuremburg; 2000 Galerie Raab, Regensburg; 2002 "Mixed Bodies," Charim Galerie, Vienna; 2003 "Flight and Expulsion," Konrad Adenauer Foundation, Berlin; 2005 "Stages," Galerie Echolot, Berlin; 2006 "Death is a Mistake," Literaturhaus Frankfurt am Main; 2007 "We will be Heroes," Krammig & Pepper Contemporary.

Group Exhibitions: 1992 Mois de la Photo, La Villette, Paris; 1994 "What She Wants," Presence Gallery York / Orchard Gallery Derry, UK; 1998 "Signatures of the Visible" Galerie am Fischmarkt Erfurt in conjunction with the Rheinland Regional Museum, Bonn; 2004 "Back to Kassel," Kasseler Kunstverein; 2005 "To Live," Fine Arts Gallery, Koroshka, Slovenia; 2006 "Good + Bad," Staetdische Galerie Luedenscheid; 2007 "The second Avantgarde," Fotoforum Kassel, Stiftung Moritzburg, Artmuseum of Sachsen-Anhalt, Hall.

Publications (monographs): "Perfect Sister" (photographs), Konkursbuch Verlag 1991; "In Canova's Lens" (photographs), Konkursbuch Verlag 1993; "Passion 2000" (photographs) Prestel Verlag 2000; "Death is a Mistake" (photographs and texts), Suhrkamp Verlag 2005. "Anatomie Titus: Fall of Rome" (photographs and texts accompanying the filmic installation) published by Theater der Zeit 2009.

Official Website: www.brigitte-maria-mayer.de

REDCAT (the Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theater) opened by CalArts in 2003, introduces diverse audiences, students and artists to the most influential developments in the arts from around the world, and gives artists in this region the creative support they need to achieve national and international stature. REDCAT is the newest partner in an international network of adventurous art and performance centers, which together are playing a vital role in the evolution of contemporary culture. REDCAT is a center for experimentation, discovery, and lively civic discourse.

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