Stairs 1 Geneva

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🎙️ EPISODE 416: 03.08.22 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝟏𝟎-𝐕𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐦𝐞 RANKING GREENAWAY 𝐒𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 And last of the Greenaway documentary work I'll be examining, and perhaps possibly least – in so much as it is the least "movie" of all these movies — we have Stairs 1 Geneva. Now, full disclosure, I didn't watch this in full and I'm not sure that's the point. As explained in the helpful primer which precedes it, this was originally more of a large-scale art installation than a film, really. So the resulting movie built on that experience, featuring 100 vignettes and clocking in at over 100 minutes with narration by Greenaway and constructed in his cluttered overlay style, is not something you're supposed to sit down and absorb in full. It's the kind of thing you can stumble past in a gallery, watch for a few minutes and generally glean some understanding or appreciation.

In fact, I truly do appreciate that Greenaway never fully abandoned his fine art roots. Even if his works outside of cinema aren't necessarily home runs (especially when experienced in a passive cinematic setting), they're still fascinating in some way. And here we also see another subtle example of Greenaway's ambitions growing out of control. This was supposed to be the first of ten projects in a series each set up in a different major city, hence the title. There was, predictably perhaps — given the insane amount of work this must have been — never a Stairs 2.... Well, except for this book, which is quite mysterious and there's very little information online about how exactly the project progressed in Germany circa '96.

CHRONOLOGICALLY
⫷ EPISODE 416H - (YOU ARE HERE) - EPISODE 417 ⫸

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Stairs 1 Geneva is a film by Peter Greenaway. It is also a large-scale art installation, an exhibition, a catalogue and a CD album. It was released on August 28, 1994.