Body Music I 1974

Directed by Charlemagne Palestine

Produced by Palestine at Art/Tapes/22 in Florence, Italy, these works are seminal performance-based exercises. Palestine calls Body Music I "a study in the vocal-physical responses of a species caught in an enclosed square room." He begins this ritualistic piece sitting on the floor, establishing an aural rhythm by banging his knees against its hard surface. As his momentum builds and accelerates, he rises and hurtles himself with intensity against the walls, as if trying to escape from confinement. Body Music II continues this physical intensity, as Palestine wanders through the labyrinthine hallways of a villa, recording with a hand-held camera. Moving faster and chanting into the reverberating space as though trying to escape, he creates a frenetic visual translation of his physical movements and energy.