« Hände » (1927)

For a Nuit blanche devoted to cinema, the mahJ presents Hände, a major film of the Berlin avant-garde in the 1920s. Conceived by the American photographer Stella F. Simon (1878-1973) and directed by the Hungarian-born journalist and writer Miklós Bándy (1904-1971), this short film inspired by dance is notable for its use of hands to evoke the characters. Set against abstract constructivist backdrops, the hands undulate, cross, brush against each other, collide and sometimes overlap to better grasp each other. Without dialogue, this abstract ballet seems to tell a universal love story between one, two or three individuals.

The never-before-seen photographs of the filming presented in the exhibition retrace the steps behind the scenes, from the conception of the film in the entourage of Viking Eggeling and Hans Richter - pioneers of abstract cinema - to its screening at parties organised by the Berlin Novembergruppe, and its rescue in 1935 by Alfred Barr, director of New York's MoMA.

In addition to the screening of Hände, the exhibition also includes documents on Stella F. Simon, Miklos Bandy, the Javanese dancer Takka-Takka, the German choreographer Herta Feist, the American composer Marc Blitzstein and the painter and decorator Max Dungert: artists from all walks of life who were part of the Berlin effervescence before the Nazis came to power.
 

Curators: Jérôme Lechevalier, journalist and Pascale Samuel, curator of the mahJ
For the Nuit blanche, Saturday 7 June, 7pm to 11.30pm
#ExpoMiklosBandy