Video Out

Cassandra: An Opera In Four Acts

Cassandra, given the gift of prophecy by Apollo, along with the curse that no one could believe her, is the central metaphor of this stunning installation by renowned Montreal artist Freda Guttman. Video projection of rescanned home movie footatge of the artist as a young girl overshadowed by the men in her family, dominates the piece. This is juxtaposed with five light boxes containing a photograph of the artists thirteenth birthday party in which a maid is made to appear and then disappear. A small window in a 1940s radio displays footage of Hitler from Leni Reifensthal s Triumph of the Will, and emits a soundscape that montages Hitler s voice and that of a female opera singer. Through earphones, interviews with women discussing the experience of being silenced can be heard. Drawing from her Anglophone/Jewish/Quebecois background, Guittman comments upon the intersections of gender, race and class in a work that is both elegant and timely.