21 Scores for Losing Yourself in a Body

An exercise in (un)knowing. South London artists perform a series of somatic choreographies. The focus on interiority and embodied experiences creates a palimpsest for the scores we keep in our bodies. Hand-processed 16mm film superimposed over a single shot of the London sky.



The event scores in 21 Scores for Losing Yourself in a Body are an invitation to explore interiority and somatic experiencing. Mostly undetectable to viewers, these subtle drifts in attention pass over faces and behind eyes as the instructions of the score overtake the body. The scores, constructed in the Fluxus style, include counting heartbeats, tracing the edges of the room visually, and (my favourite) tying a cherry stem into a knot using only your mouth.



As viewers attempt to make sense of the movements on screen, the film creates space for unknowing.



[16mm, hand-processed B&W film, digitally scanned with digital HD video; Stereo sound; Colour; 23m01s.

A-Side to the 11m41s B-side film of the same name. Premiered as an installation work at Goldsmiths' 2024 MA Artists' Film & Moving Image Degree Show along with 6 silk organza prints 300cm x 100cm.]



Michèle Saint-Michel is a filmmaker, intermedia artist, and poet based in London. With genre-bending works around loss and desire, Saint-Michel explores ache through ontologies of connection, embodiment, and experience. Trained in classical ballet and modern dance, and later as a writer and filmmaker, Saint-Michel’s works often use language, moving image, somatic movement, sound work, and sculpture to promote healing and gentle coping from difficult experiences. 



This new, hand processed film features Saint-Michel's collaborations with 34 London-based artists performing “21 Scores for Losing Yourself in a Body”. The choreographies are superimposed with themselves and a few long shots of the clouds over London in May 2024. The film features a modular score by the award-winning composer Peter Flint.