05/02/2024 - The German artist and filmmaker explains her immersive project inspired by a Marcel Duchamp masterpiece, now awarded by Eurimages

When doubtful of abstraction, abstract further. If we weren’t orientated by its title, what would we think Marcel Duchamp’s Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2 was depicting? Rising German filmmaker Lilian Hess is the latest to draw inspiration from the painter’s modernist landmark, folding it into a VR installation where the viewer can participate in the reclaiming of female agency. Duchampiana has just been granted a Eurimages New Lab Outreach Award, worth €30,000, at IFFR Pro’s CineMart (see the news). She spoke to Cineuropa about its historical and artistic inspirations, and the unique distribution strategy the project will require.

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Cineuropa: There are a few descriptions online already, but in your own words, could you share a synopsis and description of Duchampiana?
Lilian Hess: The greater theme that the piece talks about is an experience I think we can all relate to, which are moments in our life when we are either forced to or want to make a change – be that in response to a specific situation, or reflecting on the structures and boundaries that restrict us. In wanting to break out of that, I chose to talk about this universal experience through one specific artwork, which is Nude Descending a Staircase. I'm looking at this specifically through a feminist lens, and the story that Duchampiana tells is that of a woman in this moment of change, breaking out of patriarchal structures in our society that have kept women in specific spaces and specific postures for many, many centuries. The motif of the nude descending the stairs is one that I think is very recognisable across art and film history, where the female body is put in this display pose after ascending the stairs. So, walking up the staircase instead is this metaphor against that whole history around the body. It’s a symbol of striding forward, of positivity, agency and empowerment that the piece, especially as it is told through movement, will hopefully leave the audience with.

When the viewer puts on the headset, what exact perspective might they have? Is it observing the protagonist re-ascending the stairs from a fully first-person point of view, or one from outside of that?
The viewer is put in a position of their own: you are yourself. Which is also why the viewer isn't given a physical body, because I don't want to superimpose any visuals on a visitor. We encounter Duchampiana for the first time, and she recognises us. As we then go up this infinite staircase with her, the whole journey is essentially a crescendo of light, of sound, of community: eventually, we walk in a crowd and have this feeling of togetherness, striving together and allyship. And the piece ends with this, almost like handing over this narrative to you, as the viewer.

How did you become interested in immersive media and VR after initially focusing on documentary?
My artistic work focuses on how the body relates to space. I often look at personal histories through a feminist lens, so I have made many short documentaries surrounding this. I consider myself as working across many different media. Immersive media offer a really interesting opportunity to involve the body in the story: it can be a story told through movement. The medium is still finding its audience, even though it's been around for almost two decades now. That leaves a lot of room for exploration and creativity in terms of how we connect with our audiences.

How exactly might you put the award of €30,000 to use for the project’s audience outreach? From what I gather, it’s already quite far along the development and production process.
This grant is such a blessing because immersive installation pieces are notoriously hard to distribute: there is no blueprint for that kind of work. It’s a funny balancing act because our funding comes from the film world and film funds, but the exhibition and distribution side of things taps more into the art market.

This piece needs onboarding personnel to put people in the headset, etc. This grant is for putting together a comprehensive model for exhibition spaces, to communicate to them how they could exhibit this piece, how they could reach out to audiences. It's the marketing and publicity work, and calculating possible models of exhibition and recruitment. With immersive installations, that expertise doesn't yet exist in those spaces like galleries and museums. We’ll work with consultants, graphic designers and marketing specialists to put those packages together.

Do you have the full array of funding or support for Duchampiana, or might you take the project to other markets?
It’s very much the final piece of the puzzle. We would like to find companies or brands that would make sense with our message and to receive sponsorship. Putting together a tour and travelling with the equipment will be cost-intensive. And there is a specific manufacturer of the equipment that we would like to partner with. Now, I feel we're at a place where we have enough to show and enough to explain: the perfect time period for us to be reaching out to potential partners.