Javier Téllez

Born in 1969 in Valencia, Carabobo, Venezuela. Based in New York since 1993, Tellez has exhibited widely internationally and his work has been included in important exhibitions of major institutions including the InSite 05, Queens Museum of Art, P.S.1 MoMA, ZKM, Centro Cultural Arte Contemporaneo, Mexico City, as well as biennials such as Moscow Biennial, Kwangju Biennial, Venice Biennial, Yokohama Triennial, Biennial of Sydney and Manifesta.

La Passion De Jeanne d'arc. (Rozelle Hospital), 2004 juxtaposes the Carl Dreyer silent film masterpiece 'La passion de Jeanne D'Arc' and a film made by Téllez with the patients of a psychiatric facility.  Téllez’s work sensitively questions the limits of individual reason, the state, and the pathology of emotion. The work was produced as a result of a residency at Rozelle Hospital, Sydney, Australia, where Téllez worked with twelve female patients for over a month. As a video installation and twin projection, the work involves the use of the Carl Dreyer silent film masterpiece La Passion de Jeanne d’Arc. Téllez worked with the patients to produce new inter-titles for the Dreyer film. On one wall the original film is screened while the new titles are continuously being inscribed onto a blackboard.

Screening at Harbourfront Centre, Toronto, Canada; in co-presentation with Rendezvous with Madness Film Festival