Reykjavík Grapevine - 08.11.2019, Qupperneq 28

The Importance
Of Having Fun
'The Vasulka Effect' reintroduces legendary video
artists Steina and Woody to the world
Words: Lea Müller Photo: Art Bicknik
Film
'The Vasulka Effect’ is currently
playing at Bíó Paradís.
‘The Vasulka Effect’ is a heart-
warming documentary about the
lives of the legendary video artists
Steina and Woody Vasulka, who
are often referred to as the grand-
parents of the “YouTube genera-
tion.” The film, mainly narrated
by Steina, begins in the late 50s
in Prague, where the Icelandic vi-
olinist met film student Woody
Vasulka, who promptly asked her
to marry him.
The documentary alternates
between their retirement home in
Santa Fe, revisiting the places that
shaped their lives, and snippets
from their private collection of over
1,000 hours of video footage. From
their time of founding ‘The Kitch-
en’ in New York, they even provided
previously unseen footage of Andy
Warhol, Jimi Hendrix, Miles Davis,
Jethro Tull, Jackie Curtis, Candy
Darling, Patti Smith and others for
the film.
The forgotten artists
The creation of ‘The Vasulka Effect’
was very dear to director Hrafnhil-
dur Gunnarsdóttir. “I got to know
the Vasulkas in the 80s when I was
living in the United States and we
kept in touch ever since,'' she ex-
plains.
When she visited them in Santa
Fe in 2013, she realised that the cou-
ple was in deep financial trouble.
“Steina said the phone had stopped
ringing and they were facing old
age on social security in the United
States. I thought it was so interest-
ing because I know that they are
very important artists.”
With the fi lm, Hrafnhildur
wanted to reintroduce the almost
forgotten pioneers of video art to
the general public. “I thought ‘The
Vasulka Effect’ would end up being
much more artistic but it became
a combination of their life story
and the video art that they created.
It was important for us to try and
explain them to the world. We just
wanted to deliver
a sense of what
their legacy is, in a
way that everyone
could relate to.”
The outcome is a
powerful portrait
of the Vasulkas’
genius that simultaneously reveals
their genuine humour.
“Steina later said: ‘I don’t know
how you managed to make this
into a soap.’ I think she meant it as
a compliment,” Hrafnhildur says,
smiling at the memory.
A matter of trust
“As they were ageing, we kind of
became emotionally involved. We
just got the tail end of Woody being
able to express himself fully. Yet,
hanging with the Vasulkas empha-
sized how important it is to have
fun,” Hrafnhildur explains. This
trusting bond between director and
subjects helped to deliver an inti-
mate account of the couple’s wild
time in New York in the 60s and 70s.
“I can relate to Steina quite a bit.
First, when I was trying to ask her
questions she laughed and just said:
“You know all this already.” She was
very open and trusting and didn’t
feel any shame—she’s just who she
is. That was very refreshing.”
Pandora’s box
Steina also trusted Hrafnhildur
with over 1,000 hours of their pri-
vate video footage. “It was a huge
amount of material. I called it ‘The
Pandora’s Box.’ Steina had told us
about Andy Warhol and Salvador
Dali and I didn’t know if we would
find the footage, but we did. Steina
is now going to put all these drives
into the film archives of Kvikmyn-
dasafn Íslands, because she wants
the footage to live in her home
country,” Hrafnhildur explains.
After four years of filming, ‘The
Vasulka Effect’ hit the screens and
received an over-
whelming amount
of support. Wheth-
er it is Steina play-
ing the violin in
the bathroom or
Woody pointing
at a screen trying
to recall what orgy that was, “the
audience always laughs in the right
places,” Hrafnhildur concludes.
This humorous and touching
documentary by Margrét Jónas-
dóttir and director Hrafnhildur
Gunnarsdóttir is currently playing
at Bíó Paradís.
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"We just wanted to deliver a sense of their legacy."
“I don’t know
how you man-
aged to make
this into a soap.”
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