A collection of process remnants.
The prelude of Becket MWN and Aimée Zito Lema’s The Actress(es) offers forth a collection of process remnants from which, over the following three chapters, the duo unpacks elements of their project that were “left on the editing table”, reflecting together and with collaborators (such as the script translator in Buenos Aires or the director of the Amsterdam rehearsal) on the complexities of translation, the performatives of the theatre rehearsal and the possibilities of de-centering the (camera) “eye”/ (speaking) “I” positions. What visitors find in the prelude, then, is a constellation of different starting points from which to enter The Actress(es)—points to which Becket and Zito Lema return continually over the course of their reflections in the coming chapters.
English and Spanish language scripts
A three-page monologue written by Becket, which forms the foundation upon which the rehearsal processes of The Actress are built. Taking influence from Brazilian novelist Clarice Lispector’s 1973 Agua Viva, the monologue explicitly addresses the question of the embodiment of language as a form of thinking and was written with room for vocalization and other physical processes to be built into the performance. Sharing both the English and Spanish language scripts gives a view into the language(s) of the actress and director notations that emerged during the two rehearsal processes.
Fragments from an interview with Sebastian Romano
Interspersed with scripts are ‘rough cuts’, or excerpted passages from an interview with neuroscientist Sebastian Romano at the National Scientific and Technical Research Council (Argentina), which was conducted early on in Becket and Zito Lema’s research. Following the exchange, Zito Lema dissected Romano’s responses into a series of material fragments subsequently spread out across her working table along with visual and other reference sources related to speech, memory, and movement. A provisional collage, the clippings were never fixed in place; instead, the collages exist as photographic images and the ‘rough cuts’ remain open for constant re-configuration.
Film trailers from the Graz installation
Bracketing the remnants of Becket and Zito Lema’s year-long production process are two film trailers made by Zito Lema. The trailers were created as announcements for the premiere of The Actress at the Grazer Kunstverein in Fall 2021. In the first, the split screen shows two cameras facing out toward the walls of a non-descript black box space. Here viewers see from the perspective of the actresses during their respective rehearsals. In the second, the split screen shows two cameras facing two different actresses. One stands, one sits; one is a girl, one is in her 20s; one speaks English, the other speaks Spanish. On both actresses, viewers see the go-pro gear through which their perspectives were filmed.
The prelude of Becket MWN and Aimée Zito Lema’s The Actress(es) offers forth a collection of process remnants from which, over the following three chapters, the duo unpacks elements of their project that were “left on the editing table”, reflecting together and with collaborators (such as the script translator in Buenos Aires or the director of the Amsterdam rehearsal) on the complexities of translation, the performatives of the theatre rehearsal and the possibilities of de-centering the (camera) “eye”/ (speaking) “I” positions. What visitors find in the prelude, then, is a constellation of different starting points from which to enter The Actress(es)—points to which Becket and Zito Lema return continually over the course of their reflections in the coming chapters.
English and Spanish language scripts
A three-page monologue written by Becket, which forms the foundation upon which the rehearsal processes of The Actress are built. Taking influence from Brazilian novelist Clarice Lispector’s 1973 Agua Viva, the monologue explicitly addresses the question of the embodiment of language as a form of thinking and was written with room for vocalization and other physical processes to be built into the performance. Sharing both the English and Spanish language scripts gives a view into the language(s) of the actress and director notations that emerged during the two rehearsal processes.
Fragments from an interview with Sebastian Romano
Interspersed with scripts are ‘rough cuts’, or excerpted passages from an interview with neuroscientist Sebastian Romano at the National Scientific and Technical Research Council (Argentina), which was conducted early on in Becket and Zito Lema’s research. Following the exchange, Zito Lema dissected Romano’s responses into a series of material fragments subsequently spread out across her working table along with visual and other reference sources related to speech, memory, and movement. A provisional collage, the clippings were never fixed in place; instead, the collages exist as photographic images and the ‘rough cuts’ remain open for constant re-configuration.
Film trailers from the Graz installation
Bracketing the remnants of Becket and Zito Lema’s year-long production process are two film trailers made by Zito Lema. The trailers were created as announcements for the premiere of The Actress at the Grazer Kunstverein in Fall 2021. In the first, the split screen shows two cameras facing out toward the walls of a non-descript black box space. Here viewers see from the perspective of the actresses during their respective rehearsals. In the second, the split screen shows two cameras facing two different actresses. One stands, one sits; one is a girl, one is in her 20s; one speaks English, the other speaks Spanish. On both actresses, viewers see the go-pro gear through which their perspectives were filmed.