Lisa Spilliaert

Lisa Spilliaert

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N.P 2020 (8.2)

Based on the 1990 experimental novel by Japanese author Banana Yoshimoto, Lisa Spilliaert’s feature debut N.P is a translation of the text into a "silent" cinematic scenario. Translation itself is at the heart of N.P’s narrative, which details the absurdities of protagonist Kazami’s attempts to translate the short stories of fictional author Sarao Takase-- as well as her sometimes disturbing interactions with the late author’s children. The previous three translators of Takase’s writing committed suicide in mysterious circumstances and Kazami’s encounters with his daughter (and lover) Sui increasingly pull her into a world of darkly chaotic energy.
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Spilliaert 2022

In Spilliaert, filmmaker Lisa Spilliaert inquires into her blood relationship with the renowned Belgian artist Léon Spilliaert (1881-1946). Is she predestined to an artist’s life by this – whether or not – fictitious kinship? Is artistry passed on genetically? She reveals herself as a rapping, fanatical genealogist who probes into the origins of her artistic identity. Visiting all kinds of archives, she first chalks out the historical figure of Léon Spilliaert and his work. At Ostend’s Centre for Genealogy she attempts to substantiate her claim of kinship with certificates and registers. Spilliaert’s narrative structure is strung together by a number of rap poems, performed by Lisa Spilliaert herself. By choosing this form, she uncovers parallels and contrasts between rap music’s free identity construction and the strictly regulated structure of genealogy.
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Hotel Red Shoes 2013

This first video work in collaboration with my sister Lisa Spilliaert is about a double transition. On the one hand, the cultural reorientation from Japan to Belgium and, on the other hand, the transition from child to adolescent, with reference to the advent of sexual awareness. The emotional intencity of leaving a certain place or state is transcended by the ritual gestures of singing, cutting and burning.