Maria Lassnig: Film, Music and Performance

To write articles, dialogues, and songs as a painter was a big adventure, but it also awakened my conscience and a feeling of responsibility, if not before the film then in any case afterwards. – Maria Lassnig.

Join us for performative finale event as part of The Stand-Ins exhibition, inspired by the work of Maria Lassnig. Selected animated films by Lassnig will be installed around the galleries and Camden Live musicians Hidè Takemoto and Hana Piranha will respond with live scores. To cap the afternoon off artist Jane Bustin will present her Nijinsky: Faun performance in collaboration with composer John Snijders on the piano and movement by Eric Pinto Cata of the Birmingham Royal Ballet Company.

Maria Lassnig (1919–2014) was a celebrated Austrian figurative painter (and, later, filmmaker) whose intense, uncompromising works spanned six decades. Music and performance played an essential role in Lassnig's life as she developed collaborative relationships with writers and musicians, exploring connections between improvisation, moving images, bodies and painting.

Responding to this ethos of collaborations with artists across mediums, join us for a special evening of music, performance and film. The following selection of Lassnig's animated short films from the 1970s will be on view: Baroque Statues (1970), Selfportrait (1971), Iris (1971) Chairs (1971), Shapes (1972), Couples (1972), Palmistry (1973) and Art Education (1976).


Jane Bustin (Performing 4:40PM)

Jane Bustin (b. 1964, London) studied at Portsmouth Polytechnic and lives and works in London; her practice spans a decade of single works in painting and ceramic as well as installation, text, film and performance. She uses multiple materials, and her work is based around the poetic language of painting, modernist literature, feminism and extending the links between craft, concept and movement. Bustin's work has been exhibited widely nationally, including Whitechapel, London, Royal Academy, London, Walker Gallery, Liverpool, Kettles Yard, Cambridge and Ferens Museum, Hull and internationally in Berlin,

New York, Paris, Sydney and Auckland. Bustin has work in public collections, including Victoria & Albert Museum, Ferens Museum and Yale Centre. She is represented by Copperfield, London, Jane Lombard New York and Fox Jensen Sydney.

Nijinsky: Faun is a collaborative work between artist Jane Bustin, composer John Snijders and young ballet dancer Eric Pinto Cata that pays homage to Vaslav Nijinsky's tumultuous life. Expanding on Ninjinsky's formal experimentation, the performance comprises five table-mounted assemblages, a musical score and a balletic performance.

Eric Pinto Cata (Performance 4:40PM)

Eric Pinto Cata is a ballet dancer trained at the Royal Ballet school and is currently part of the Birmingham Royal Ballet Company. He has performed at the Birmingham Hippodrome, Royal Opera House and Sadler Wells, amongst others.

Hana Piranha (Performance 2:20 PM , 3:20 PM, 4PM)

Hana Pirahna is a classically trained violinist, singer and harpist. She has performed at the O2 Academy, Wigmore Hall and recently shared a stage with Anna Calvi. Hana is interested in mixing the genres of jazz, pop, and classical music to meditate the interstitial spaces between traditional and contemporary musicology.

John Snijders (Perfromance 4:40PM)

John Snijders was born in Heemskerk (the Netherlands) in 1963. He studied at the Royal Conservatory The Hague with Geoffrey Madge (piano), Stanley Hoogland (fortepiano) and Louis Andriessen (composition). In 1985 he won first prize at the Berlage Competition for Dutch chamber music 1840-1940. Snijders performed as soloist with a.o. the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, The Brussels Philharmonic, The Hague Philharmonic, Dutch Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, Radio Chamber Orchestra and Dutch Radio Symphony Orchestra. From 1988 until 2013, he was a member of the Nieuw Ensemble Amsterdam. In 1986 he founded the Ives Ensemble, of which he continues to be a pianist and artistic director. Since 2013 Snijders has been a member of the contemporary music groups Ensemble7Bridges and E7B Soundlab, and since 2021 he has been a founding member of the North-East based group for new music, Contrazontal.

Hidè Takemoto ( Performance 2:00 PM, 3:00 PM, 4:00 PM)

Hidè Takemoto is a classically trained guitarist from Kyoto, Japan, who studied at the Guildhall School of Music in London. He is interested in experimenting with contemporary musical genres embedded in the classical tradition of string instruments. Hidè’s guitar technique is inspired by Keigo Fujii, José Luis Gonzaléz, Andrés Segovia, Miguel Llobet and Francisco Tárrega.

By taking part in this event, you are consenting to be filmed, and your image and actions may be included in the video documentation. Please also note that some of the animated films contain minor nudity.

This event is FREE, booking recommended.