·Ein Gebäude in Eisenach·
Intermezzo
-A building in Eisenach-
After a good 30 months of artistic work, the results - understood as Intermezzo - were shown in an extensive exhibition from October 14 to November 27, 2022.
The »Thüringer Allgemeine« reported in a longer article about the exhibition opening.
A look at the facade.
KUNST Pavilion on October 14, 2022
The built-up exhibition
On the right, the video furniture, which presents the two films shot in the O1 on demand.
The films can be viewed on vimeo:
-The tracking shot-
The main thing that excites me is the image created by this apparatus: there is no longer an inside and an outside, transparency and permeability are dominant. This brings the building into direct focus and with the [point] resolution the building can exist or dissolve.
Link vimeo
-The dance in the O1-
The view from outside, the discovery through the drone eye and the pursuit with the hand-held camera is solely for the dancer. Is he the last person to move in this ruin, to walk it dancing? Perhaps even more astonishing is the initial gaze of the viewer. In the colossal building, the dance - floor by floor - becomes increasingly agitated, restless. The contentless space in its vastness shows itself desolate. Only the functionless shell, steel girders and broken glass panes are visible - a space in disappearance, a nothingness. The meaning of the building is lost and only the dancer gives the whole a meaning. Time with all that goes with it has passed and in the end he too leaves - unexcited and without a greeting, without turning around. His way leads into the depth of the room. End!
Link vimeo
One of eleven picture boards
On the left, photographs taken with the laser scanner, printed on cotton paper; on the right, prints on Alu Dibond.
The MDR interviewed me on November 29, 2021.
It is never just one person, there are always many who make the realization of such a project possible. My thanks go to:
Uwe Britten, who brought the building to my attention; SWG Eisenach, represented by Ines Neumann, who allowed me multiple access to the building; Frederic Herrmann of Leica Geosystems, who provided the laser scanner, and filmmaker Peter Lund, with whom the dance film was implemented and the last breath was breathed into the ruin in the form of artificial clouds.
Wendel Mota Silva, who was willing to engage in the experiment of dancing in the O1; Anika Schäfer, who made it possible to take pictures from this angle via the access of her balcony; Manfred Beck, who let me look into the archive, and the archive Stiftung Automobile Welt Eisenach, which supported the use of the historical image material; Klaus-Dieter Fiesinger and his knowledge at the start of the project; Karin Fiesinger for her everlasting help; the people portrayed; Peter Schäfer [Zentrum für Gegenwartskunst e. V.], who was interested in a cooperation from the beginning.
Last but not least, I thank my wife Christine for her helpful guidance and support.
The project's progress convinced the Hamburg Ministry of Culture and Media, the Hamburg Cultural Foundation, and the Hamburg Professional Association of Visual Artists: they awarded me a grant in 2021 to realize this work.