‘The Demonstration of Gentleness (video + art talk)’

In Ian Whittlesea’s The Demonstration of Gentleness (2012) you see how identical twins Helen and Kathryn Cartwright perform the judo movement ‘Ju-no-Kata’. Their movements are stretched out in an exaggeratedly slow manner until choreographic patterns become visible. “Judo is an art”, said Yves Klein. “An art just like heavenly music, because it must be presented time and time again if you really want to look at or listen to it. It’s art because it’s personal and universal, art is in the struggle, and thus in life itself.” The short film is inspired by Yves Klein’s 1954 book Les Fondements du Judo (The Foundations of Judo). Ian Whittlesea translated this book into English 55 years after its publication.