BUI SISTERS
Cavallucci about The Bui Sisters:
(…) Sisters dancing with senses. In a way this is what the Bui sisters have been doing in their videos and films for years: they question the certainties of human perception, play with dimensions, genres, Newton’s laws of motion. Julia Bui-Ngoc and Mai Bui-Ngoc, whose mother is Polish and father is Vietnamese, join these rather distant experiences and put them into one. Dedicated to theatre and dance, Julia was studying under Professor Grzegorz Kowalski at the Faculty of Sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, where she joined „Kowalnia”, i.e. an informal group of artists founded by Kowalski [kowal means a blacksmith in Polish, so kowalnia would be a blacksmith’s workshop], where in the 1990s as well as afterwards a number of leading Polish artists have developed their talents. After graduation from architecture, cinematography and television studies, followed by an intense career of an architect, Mai set off on her 1.5-year-long travel around the world. Three years ago the sisters established an art team which deals with art, theatre, cinema and advertising. Sometimes they cooperate with other artists – in this case with Jarek Jóźwik, music writer.
Questioning perception certainties seems to be one of the major goals of the two artists’ work – both when in their video clips they play and present the characters as small Gullivers in the land of giants, or when in the theatre they tell their actresses to go through the door one by one and enter the screen, thus blurring the borderline between the real world and the virtual one. The big and the small, the real and the pretended, the high and the low mix with one another. Shooting models from above often makes their bodies look like puppets, rag dolls or computer game characters. The Bui sisters also play with film genres. The atmosphere of the noir blends with the scenes of passion, while rising suspense leads to nothing. In some of their advertising productions the tandem sometimes uses quotes (such as long, round shots by Rybczyński). What emerges from their works above all is the concept of the theatre. The belief that we live in parallel worlds and that we can easily slide even from the most dangerous and dramatic reality into a puppet show or fantastic world of comic books.
Fabio Cavallucci
Julia Bui Ngoc
Film director, sculptor, dancer, and choreographer born in France. Three-time French gold medalist of the Chinese martial arts Wushu. Co-founder (together with Mai Bui-Ngoc) of the Bui Sisters cinematographic duet. Founder of the School of Dancing with Combat Fans. In 2011 she graduated from the Faculty of Sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw. She developed her artistic sensitivity under professor Grzegorz Kowalski in his multimedia atelier. Holder of the scholarships granted by the Minister of Culture and National Heritage and by the Capital City of Warsaw. Since 2003 Julia Bui-Ngoc has created more than twenty video-arts, over a dozen theatre performances and six short movies. Her works were presented and awarded in prestigious art centers in Poland and abroad, inter alia at National Museum in Prague at Prague Quadrennial (Czech Republic), at Ujazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art in Warsaw (Poland), at Zachęta Galery of Art in Lublin (Poland), at Japon Expo Festival in Nice (France), at Readymade Film Fest in Los Angeles (USA), at Sorbonne in Paris (France). From 2003 Julia cooperates (as an actress, choreographer and a tutor at Academy for Theatre Practices) with Centre for Theatre Practices Gardzienice, taking part in such theatre productions as: Metamorphosis, Elektra, Francois Vase, Iphigenia at Aulis. She performed and ran masterclasses inter alia at Columbia University in New York (USA), Yale University (USA), LaMaMa Theatre (USA), the European Commission in Brussels (Belgium), Sikyone (Greece), Hebel Theatre in Berlin (Germany), Meyerhold Center in Moscow (Russia), Barbican Center in London (UK).
Mai Bui Ngoc
MA in engineering and architecture, film director, camerawoman. Graduated from the Faculty of Architecture at the Warsaw University of Technology and Film and Television Academy in Warsaw. Multiple France champion in Chinese martial arts (kung-fu wu-shu). Worked as an architect in France and Ireland. In Poland she worked in one of the best architectural firms Jems Architekci, winning a number of awards and distinctions in various architectural competitions. She is also active in the field of video-art and short films. Her artistic productions have been influenced by numerous travels around the world and many years of work as an architect. Co-founder (together with Julia Bui-Ngoc) of the Bui Sisters duet.
Lan Bui-Wrzosińska
Social media strategist with special expertise in the psychology of conflicts and violence. Consultant in conflict and change management in various settings, from gang violence in NYC, soccer hooligans in Poland, to war zones. University lecturer (Columbia University, Warsaw School of Social Psychology). Former director of the ICCC labs in Warsaw. Her work has been published, among others, in the Harvard Negotiation Journal, the American Psychologist, the Journal of Organizational Behavior, and her book: „Attracted to Conflict: Dynamic Foundations of Destructive Social Relations”. She is developing a disruptive platform Trovero.io, a Swiss-based Startup for technological support of social movements.
Severine Walter
After her study in international relations and a quick passage in embassy, she devoted herself to the film industry, and passionate for travel shows in extreme land. She works as an audiovisual technician and develop consulting assignments in the International field, for example in Film Festival. She do photo reporting and videos with her drone and company LADY DRONE. She live in St. Malo (ouest coast of France), and Paris, she can work easely in this two regions and abroad. She joined the Bui Sisters in 2010.