Couples

Forum Special 2024

Scenes of men and women, sizing each other up. A match? Not if she earns more than he does. “You are not my universe”. A revue of misplaced lust. And at the end, a bleeding heart. Film 7 of the Forum Special programme “Ten Short Films by Maria Lassnig”, which we are showing to complement Anja Salomonowitz’s film Sleeping with a Tiger from the Forum main programme. Maria Lassnig’s cinematic works are exercises in body transformations: Gratifying frictions, lively critiques, wonderful ideas, sometimes hand-drawn and sung by the director herself. Sketches and animation. Ideas about women in relationships are put slyly in motion.

1. Baroque Statues, 1970-74
2. Encounter, 1970
3. Iris, 1971
4. Chairs, 1971
5. Selfportrait, 1971
6. Shapes, 1972
7. Couples, 1972
8. Palmistry, 1974
9. Art Education, 1976
10. The Ballad of Maria Lassnig, co-directed by Hubert Sielecki, 1992

by Maria Lassnig Austria / USA 1972 English 9’ Colour

Crew

Director

Maria Lassnig

World Sales

Sixpackfilm

http://www.sixpackfilm.com http://www.sixpackfilm.com

Photos

Maria Lassnig

Born in Kappel am Krappfeld in 1919. Graduate of the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna. Since 1950 international exhibitions and awards. Together with Arnulf Rainer and Oswald Oberhuber founded the informal painting movement in Austria. Lived abroad in Paris (1961–1968) and New York (1968–1980). Member of Women/Artist/ Filmmakers, Inc. New York (1974–1980). 1980–1990 Professor of the Master Class for Experimental Design at the College of Applied Arts in Vienna. Founded the only Austrian teaching studio for animated film in 1982. Maria Lassnig died in Vienna in 2014.

Filmography (selection)

1970 Baroque Statues; short film · Encounter; animation 1971 Iris; short film · Chairs; animation · Selfportrait; animation 1972 Shapes; animation · Couples; animation 1974 Palmistry; animation 1976 Art Education; animation 1992 Maria Lassnig Kantate (The Ballad of Maria Lassnig); co-director: Hubert Sielecki, short film