The Garden of Earthly Delights

Synopsis : '' The Garden of Earthly Delights is a visual duet consisting of a 16mm film and a 16mm still photogram self-portrait collage. It is inspired by the earthly pleasures and wonders as revealed in the vibrant marvels of Stan Brakhage's cinema, in particular his Christ Mass Sex Dance (1991) and The Garden of Earthly Delights (1981), and in the central panel of the 1504 triptych by Hieronymous Bosch titled The Garden of Earthly Delights. This film employs digital photography stop-motion animation, digital video, Super 8mm film, and 16mm film (a self-portrait photogram). The 16mm photogram is used as a travelling matte that acts as a time-capsule, which orders the base rhythm of this film; the interweaving of the human flesh with the flesh of the world. Other rhythms are subsequently introduced in response to the base rhythm created with the travelling matte, i.e., these rhythms are introduced as a way to break out of the order imposed by the matte or out of “John’s Cage,” to use Stan Brakhage’s phrase from his Metaphors on Vision where he referred to his own process while editing Prelude: Dog Star Man in those terms. '' Izabella Pruska-Oldenhof