The Empty Plan

The recent work of Kirschner and Panos has addressed the relationship between different orders of representation, and the limits of art as a mode of revolutionary practice. The Empty Plan (2010, dur: 78 min) centers on Bertolt Brecht’s exile to Los Angeles in the 1940s, and particularly the relationship between theory and practice in his theater. As this film considers a historical and political shift in acting methodolgies, Kirschner and Panos’ 2011 video installation, Living Truthfully Under Imaginary Circumstances deals with the affective dimension of naturalistic performance. Featuring scenes from an acting workshop and archive footage, the work turns to Sanford Meisner’s techniques for stimulating “authentic” emotion in acting, simultaneously seducing the viewer and confronting her with the mechanisms of that seduction.

For this event a screening of The Empty Plan will be followed by a discussion between Anja Kirschner, David Panos and artist Andrea Geyer. The conversation will address modes of dramatic performance and identification in relation to subjectivity, and particularly the function of the affective in relation to the political.