It’s still happening. Carla Forte. 

No matter how much we want this pandemic to be over, it’s still happening and it still affects our lives.
Artists still reflect on it, still create work, and we are still showing it. Today, we bring you the work of Carla Forte, and a few thought that she shared with Ephemereye.
Carla Forte lives and works in Miami, Florida. Forte, as first trained as a contemporary dancer, received a bachelor degree, earning the highest GPA at Dance University Institute in Caracas – Venezuela (2000-2004). Forte soon established herself as an interdisciplinary artist incorporating dance, film and performance through different media, focusing on the emotions as a starting point. She is the co-founder and film director of Bistoury Physical Theatre and Film (2007 – Present) in Miami, Florida.

Quarantine Rain, 2021. © Carla Forte.
I live and work in Miami, Florida. I have been first trained as a contemporary dancer at Dance University Institute in Caracas – Venezuela (2000-2004). Then I established myself as an interdisciplinary artist incorporating dance, film and performance through different media, focusing on the emotions as a starting point. My feature films and experimental pieces have been screened at festivals such as: 74 “Festival Internazionale del Cinema di Salerno” (2021), “62nd Rochester International Film Festival” (2020), 37th “Miami Film Festival” (2020), “41st Atlanta Film Festival” (2017). I have also been featured in Galleries including: “OGA VideoArt Exhibitions Rome, Italy (2018); Cube Art Project Lincoln, Nebraska. (July 21, 2017) and Les Instants Vidéo Marseille, France (2014). I have won awards and artistic residencies from prestigious programs such as: South Florida Cultural Consortium (2021), 66th Flaherty Seminar (2021), Dance Miami Choreographers (2020); Knight Arts Challenge Miami (2019); En Residencia Koubek Center (2019); FONLAD Residency Program Coimbra- Portugal (2018) and Berlinale Talent Berlin (2017).
I got involved in video art through physical movement. Definitely dance, gestures and improvisations made me explore this world. I started doing installations for physical theatre works and from there I started to develop my own practice.
In my world everything has changed. My work begins to become more intimate than before. I feel like it’s the way that I can be honest with myself and with my practice. Is the way I can deal with reality and explore art. I am focused on rescuing the empty and incomplete spaces that I abandon before the pandemic. I think it has been difficult and painful in general.
Nevertheless my practice has saved me in different ways. I try to not forget the uncertainty, the vulnerability that surrounds us everyday. I have been enjoying the tempo during the lockdown; it feels more human than before. I really do not want to go back to madness. Life is more than money and material things. I am in the constant and infinite search for being. My work is intimate and for that reason therapeutic, but I always deal with the challenge of finding new different ways to make art. I respect the life of others. But for me art means freedom.
I have a little fear. I believe in art but I have concerns about programmers, gallerys, film festivals, cultural organizations and how they still educate the audience. How business and entertainment is killing the meaning of art. Is real sad. As an artist I have to believe in my voice no matter what, is the only way to keep the essence and dignity.
I hope [things will change]! Is time for compassion, respect and empathy. Is time to be less materialistic and build a world where lives matter, animal matters and our earth matters.

Ephemereye is a digital platform and an art gallery. It was founded in 2017 by Veronica Shimanovskaya, DFA and Kishore Paravastu. Ephemereye collaborates with venue to curate and produce live exhibition, as well as curates and produces virtual show. Since 2017, Ephemereye produced 8 exhibition, curated, produced and co-sponsored a live Contemporary Iranian video art with Cambridge University Shahnameh Centre, and published academic articles.  Ephemereye is building an online library of historical and contemporary video artists and portfolio building tool features.

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