PLAY (Parts 1 & 2)
hd color video and black-and-white and color widescreen super 8 mm film transferred to hd video with sound, 29 min. 59 sec.; 15 min. 45 sec., 2013
In Dara Friedman’s PLAY, 17 couples, some real-life couples, others paired by the artist, all of them actors, develop and play out scenes of intimacy. The poetic, intense, and humorous situations grow intuitively from a process of improvisational theater games created for the purpose. With this work Friedman engages with actors and their ability to receive and transmit projected desires while at the same time laying bare theatrical and cinematic devices with Brechtian pleasure. Created during Friedman’s residency at the Hammer, PLAY was filmed at the museum’s Billy Wilder Theater, in a hippie shack in Topanga Canyon, and on the streets of Los Angeles.
Together with: Amanda Washko, Dakota Lupo, Fernando Belo, Nana Levitan, Jacob Loeb, Chelsey Holland, Juan Riedinger, Agam Darshi, Sara Hertweck, Read MacGuirtose, Constance Strickland, Megan Rippey, Gabriela Garcia Medina, Paget Kagy, Julian Silver, Smaranda Luna, Gabriel Luna, Joseph Thomas, Cameron Oro, Ashish Dha, Kymberly Harris, Hadley Gallen, Ajala Bandele, Paula Rebelo, Michael Aurelio, Kestrel Burley, Nick Fontaine, Dierdre Lyons, Stephen Butchko, Ciera Adams, Kelsey Milano, and Sandy Simona
