F O R E I G N I S S U E S
Films by women from Germany & Austria
curated by Dagmar Kamlah
Passagen
(Passages)
2010. Germany. 12 min
by Doro Carl
A topography of transit traffic: Throughout a whole year Doro Carl filmed the elevated platform of a commuter train station from a distant camera position. Like on a stage people of all ages and nations enter and leave this passage way.
The video installation was shown as part of an integrative art project, which envisions more social life in an international city. The "Academy of another city" focussed on suburban quarters with a high percentage of migrant population and located the exhibits along subway/rapid transit lines.
Minot, North Dakota
2007. USA. 18 min
by Angelika Brudniak, Cynthia Madansky
Music by Zeena Parkins
Minot, nicknamed the "Magic City," is the home of a U.S. Air Force base and its 150 subterranean nuclear missiles. These weapons of mass destruction, installed almost fifty years ago, are still targeted at Russia. The film examines this troubling nuclear landscape and residents' reactions to the forest of bombs beneath their backyards.
A room with a view in the financial district
2003. Austria/USA. 5 min
by Carola Dertnig
The images of this work, made in June 2001, are talking about several months the artist spent living in the World Trade Center in New York, as part of an artist-in-residence program. Shot with the photo button of a video camera, A ROOM WITH A VIEW... documents a number of empty rooms, abandoned architectures with traces of a working environment, punctuated by framed views of Manhattan as seen through the windows. In a first-person off-camera narration the filmmaker comments on her stay, reflecting the space’s conditions as well as artistic questions and broader economic structures.
Prufrock back in America
2010. Germany. 8 min
by Eva Heldmann
Documentary impressions of a Europeanized man returning to his old American places. Energy still roars through the land that no longer works. An angel appears in a parking lot. A comfortable couple squabbles over a piece of cheese. Filmed 2008 and 2010 between Chicago and the Mississippi River.
"I grow old ... I grow old ... // I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled. // Shall I part my hair behind? Do I dare to eat a peach? // I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the beach. // I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each."
(aus: T.S. Eliot, "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock")
Quiet Neighborhood
2011. USA. 16 min
by Dagmar Kamlah
A front porch full of chimes on a beautiful fall day. Packages of leaves waiting to be delivered, the cat finds more to chase after. Another bell calls for donations. The orchestra goes silent when snow covers our small world.
Übung zur Gelassenheit I-III
(Exercise in Placidity I-III)
2004. Germany. 7:35 min
by Doro Carl
Noisy traffic is running unremittingly close to unaffectedly dozing cows. Cars slamming on the brakes cause a twitch of the ear, but there seems to be no flight instinct – the cow is an holy animal. Lethargic composure and hectic activity exist side by side, but the cow seems to be imperturbable. Her invulnerability guarantees her calmness – she is an icon.
Once upon a time
2005. Germany. 25 min
by Corinna Schnitt
In a living room, a camera is slowly turning round, just about thirty centimetres above the carpet. There is no-one to be seen. A cat suddenly appears and moments later a second one enters the room. A dog drinks water from a fish bowl, a bird joins the assembled company, a rabbit hops in, a goose waggles its way among them, somewhere a pig is grubbing about, a goat, a lama, there is no end to it. Gradually the room is filling up with more and more animals which are sniffing at each other, startling each other or munching on a house plant together. In an earlier work by Corinna Schnitt, we saw all kinds of very young children sitting, lying, walking and playing naked together in an idyllic landscape. The religious or romantic association with a primeval world in which living creatures would once have co-existed, also emerges from Once Upon a Time.
“A fairytale-like story: Once upon a time when man’s domesticated companions reconquered civilised space …“ (S.Himmelsbach)
