The Art Of Flow
107 minutes, BetaSP, 4:3, colour, PAL
On a sunny August afternoon 2003, we met at the Vienna Ganesha Yoga Center. A friend of mine, Veni Labi, wanted me to document a special kind of bodywork she has developed and which she calls The Art Of Flow. In one single go, without rehearsing or editing, that is to say without ever putting down the camera, I recorded the way Veni worked on her client (Alex) and, above all, I sought to capture the quality of her presence, the way she proceeded for nearly two hours.
Over the past years, Veni has been studying ancient spiritual traditions like Yoga, Nuad, Qi-Gong, Meditation, Trance-dance, Shamanism and others. In the bodywork, that unfolds through her, through her body, through her hands and which she calls The Art Of Flow, her various experiences flow together and merge in a unique way, transcending the different forms, thus touching the essence behind.
Being roughly familiar with the physical movements of a Nuad sequence, the way I reacted to the two of them with my camera, however, was as spontaneous and instinctive as Venis work was, comparable to unpremeditated, free style dancing together. The beautiful thing about this work was the simultaneousness of our movements, the choreography of bodies and camera. I wanted to follow their movements with my camera to an extent that was physically manageable to me, moment by moment, without considering other „better“ approaches that may have produced a clearer picture, something more proper and appropriate. I believe that the intuitive dedication that made me point my camera at these two people and immerse myself in the room, the atmosphere, and the music clearly mediates what happened between the two, one more actively involved and the other more passively, and directly conveys the substance of their exchange.
Just as so many things in life, the effects of bodywork and energy-balancing cannot be fully explained or proven in a scientific way. Energy-balancing work has been practiced for thousands of years however, its effectiveness is beyond a shadow of doubt.
Michael Pilz, Veni Labi, Vienna, May 2005
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Original title The Art Of Flow
English title The Art Of Flow
Produced by Veni Labi
Realized by Michael Pilz
Cinematography by Michael Pilz
Original sound by Michael Pilz
Austria 2003
First public screening 27 September, 2003, Yoga Centre Ganesha Vienna
Contact Michael Pilz Film
A-1180 Vienna/Austria
Teschnergasse 37
Phone +43.699.11336581