Quarantaine

Georgina Starr, Quarantaine, film, 43 minutes, 2020.

Georgina Starr, Quarantaine, film, 43 minutes, 2020.

“I associate quarantaine with the mythological and the alchemical rather than any particular definitive meaning of the word. When I chose the title for the film, it was well before the recent world-wide pandemic, so the word seemed more fluid and mysterious. I was thinking specifically about the idea of une quarantaine – a period I read about in Celtic mythology. It is believed to take place in the 40 days leading up to the 1st full moon of Spring. It’s a strange liminal time-frame whereby spirits can descend to Earth and live amongst mortals. Imagining what this une quarantaine moment would look and sound like I began conjuring a whole world that would exist within this highly charged occasion. Quarantaine has one foot in reality, but by “entering” through the tree portal the women give themselves up to the unknown. Inside there are new rules, new educational structures, and new languages to learn. I was thinking about a model of an ‘educational institute’ and the process of acquiring new codes of learning and ways to communicate. My research for the film was extensive and prolonged. I was looking at Marian mythology and its power over female pedagogy, the psychological systems of Wilhelm Reich, musical, vocal and movement teachings from Kodaly, Orff and Keetman, Delsarte and Mettler and also metaphysical transformation from the Rosarium Philosophorum as well as exercises in wellbeing and spiritual purity inside the ancient Chinese Daoyin Tu manuscripts”. 

Interview with the artist from Pinksummer’s press release on the occasion of the screening program of Quarantaine (May 05- September 17, 2022).

You can read the rest of the interview here.

Courtesy the Artist, Film Video Umbrella London, Glasgow International 2021, Leeds Art Gallery and Art Fund (Moving Image Fund). © Georgina Starr & Pinksummer Contemporary Art