Directing art: Sarah Contos’ cinematic vision

A year ago, National Gallery Senior Curator Contemporary Art Jaklyn Babington approached Sydney-based artist Sarah Contos with an exciting proposal: disrupt and transform the iconic Gallery Foyer for the inaugural Balnaves Contemporary Series with an enormous commissioned art installation. How could she say no?

The result — Nikola Tesla sends Theda Bara to Mars — is a cinematic universe in which film references are pulled apart and reinterpreted using a wild array of materials and mediums. Characters and props collaged with sparkling, suspended textiles and fleshy sculptural forms drip from the ceiling via unexpected structures and flamboyant mobiles. The vibe is, in Contos’ words, ‘an overfilled raspberry coke slushy… a pillow fight in heels… an exquisite corpse.’

The title of Contos’ work speaks to the artist’s fascination with the myth-making elements of cinema. In the early 1900s, inventor Nikola Tesla developed wireless transmissions he believed could be used to communicate with aliens on Mars. Thrilled, he suggested that the first images sent to the Martians should be of Theda Bara, Hollywood’s original femme fatale.

Nicknamed ‘The Vamp’, Bara was portrayed as an exotic seductress both on screen and in the press. In reality Theda Bara was Theodosia Goodman, the daughter of Jewish immigrants from Cincinnati. Contos is fascinated with the idea of the femme fatale as a Hollywood construct, stating, ‘It proposes interesting ideas about projected identities and fabricated facts.’

‘Ultimately, this installation is flexible, not fixed. As the mobiles turn, so do the film icons printed on the banners… Their malleability refers back to the story of Theda Bara, a totally constructed image.’

As the banners softly turn and flutter, each viewer is exposed to a slightly different experience of the installation. Looking at the work from multiple angles, viewers, almost unconsciously, take on the role of the camera within Contos’ ‘motion picture’. On entering the National Gallery, they immediately look upwards, zooming in to particular details that catch their eye. Travelling up the escalators, their gaze takes on the sensation of a panning shot, before they walk along the mezzanine walkway and enjoy a birds-eye view of the installation. In this way, Contos highlights the complex links between film as a polished final product and an individual and introspective encounter.

The materiality of the work also speaks to the idea of cinema as both a shared and intimate activity. Famous film stills of Gloria Swanson and Theda Bara, among others, grace various frames. By layering on graffiti and applique, Contos made her work looser and grungier, until it took on the aesthetic of a giant collage that puts her in mind of ‘ad hoc backyard theatrical shows, mix-tapes, and ‘smash up’ decoupage on school books.’

Energised by personal touches, her method speaks to the idea that although a film is, by design, a glossy ‘final cut’ designed to be enjoyed en masse, it also affects each viewer in a unique way.

Reflecting on her glittering, paint smeared, immersive installation, Contos hopes that visitors feel connected to her creation, like they might feel connected to their favourite film.

‘I hope that visitors experience a beautiful assault on the senses. I want them to be able to project their own experience onto the work, and have the work in some way mirror it back to them.’

‘Creating this work has been a labour of love — I want that love to resonate back.’