Push Me Pas de Deux2011

Single words in English and German translation scroll upwards in vertical columns at increasing speed, as an American female and a German male recite in voice-over while their nude torsos advance horizontally in static positions across the screen. A powerful experimental short about what people do to each other. "Like most of my work, this piece began in my Journal as an observation of an event: 'Someone bumped into me hard today. I said excuse me to them. As usual.' The next step also often happens: an insight. 'Goddamn it! I always let myself get pushed around. I always apologize for being in the way. I never push back. I only just always wonder at it.' And next, an idea comes for a piece. Little by little, as Life pushed me around some more, the brutality of the work evolved. Rocky relationships found their way into it, as well as my dramatic police arrest and incarceration on bogus charges (eventually dismissed). For three months the words came on their own into my mind, and were listed in the Journal in the order you see them here to become this video."
CAST & CREW:
featuring Barbara Rosenthal (New York) and DJRoBeat (Berlin). Translation by Brandstifter.