Frances Scott - Valentina

Screening: VALENTINA
6pm, Thurs 19 Nov — 11pm, Sun 22 Nov

FRANCES SCOTT and Beth Bramich In conversation
7.30pm , Sat 21 Nov

Join and listen to the conversation here

To conclude Frances Scott’s research residency, TACO! are pleased to present an online screening of Frances’ short film, Valentina (2020), followed by an in conversation event with writer Beth Bramich.

Valentina is a prelude to Wendy, a speculative portrait of, and film fan-letter to, composer and musician Wendy Carlos - self-described as “The Original Synth”. In Valentina, an unedited 100ft reel of hand-processed 16mm film, shot in rehearsal, is used as a silent score for a reading. Performer and dancer Valentina Formenti recalls part of a transcribed interview with Carlos, later edited for publication in ‘Playboy’ in 1979. Whilst the magazine interview was seen as the first public announcement of Carlos’ gender transition, these absent passages, excluded from the final edit, include her connected interests in cartography, physics, mathematics, transformations, astronomy, and her practice in solar eclipse photography. Valentina's multiple voices are translated through Vocoder, and collaged with musician Tom Richards’ performance on Daphne Oram’s unrealised ‘Mini-Oramics’, to suggest a coming into being through sonic synthesis.

‘…imagining a world without gender, which is perhaps a world without genesis, but maybe also a world without end.’ (Donna Haraway, ‘A Manifesto for Cyborgs’, Socialist Review, no.80, 1985)

Frances will be joined by Beth to discuss her research around Carlos’ work and collaborations, in particular her arrangements for film soundtracks and use of the Vocoder (Voice-Encoder). They will speak about exploring new readings of the histories of cinema through archival materials, and how emerging themes of synthesis and eclipse will appear in the final film.

Wendy will be shown in a solo exhibition at TACO! in Autumn 2021, accompanied by a new book work published with An Endless Supply. Valentina will also be screened at Transmediale, Berlin in January 2021, alongside a filmed performance of the score in-progress by musician, Tom Richards.