Manifesto: Live from Tate Modern
classified 15Please note: This was screened in Nov 2017
Cate Blanchett plays thirteen different characters in this energetic tribute to artistic troublemakers, a kaleidoscopic trip through the art manifestos of the 20th century.
All current art is fake. Nothing is original. These are some of the artist statements in artist Julian Rosefeldt's stunning piece Manifesto, the feature film version of his celebrated Armory installation. A chameleonic Cate Blanchett gives a tour-de-force performance as she transcends gender, class, nationality and profession in a series of vignettes which draw upon manifestos questioning the true nature of art, including modernism, futurism, communism and Dogme 95. As each manifesto seeks to rip up what has come before, so each scene here builds on and destroys the preceding philosophies, employing different techniques of delivery to explore ideas about aesthetics, technology and politics.
As Blanchett morphs seamlessly between characters, from a nihilistic punk to a downtrodden homeless man, Manifesto ultimately blurs the lines of conventional story, exploring the intention behind artistic expression, and ultimately the importance of storytelling itself. It's a film for creative spirits that will both provoke and inspire.