Attention: Entry for the film showings is free but seating is limited. If the demand exceeds our capacity, we will make the effort to show the film again at a later date.  More information about these repeat dates can be found on our homepage: www.kunst-im-bundestag.de  

FILM/PHOTO INSTALLATIONS DURING OPENING HOURS (NONSTOP)

FEBRUARY 19th- MARCH 2nd, 2008

POLITICS AND ART-ART AND POLITICS: ARTISTS AND THEIR WORKS IN THE REICHSTAG BUILDING, a film from Andreas Kaernbach (2005, 9:31 min, German)

The photographer Jens Liebchen took portraits of the artists who took part in the artistic design of the buildings of the German Parliament. Gerhard Richter, Sigmar Polke, Jenny Holzer, Georg Baselitz, Grisha Bruskin, Neo Rauch and Jörg Herold were all photographed by Jens Liebchen during the conception or the installation of their works of art in the Parliament buildings. The portraits reveal the individuality of the artists' personality and display a contrast between the representative architecture and the artistic works in their political surroundings.

ART IN THE REICHSTAG BUILDING, a film from Wolfgang Kabisch by order from the German Parliament. (2005, 44 min. German)

The Reichstag Building in Berlin was established as the new headquarters of the German Parliament in April of 1999. Nineteen artist's works that dealt specifically with the building and its story were created for the occasion. Completed by aquisitions and items on loan, the Reichstag Building houses one of the most important collections of contemporary art.  This film presents the artworks in their own context, shows the creation process through its installation as well as a selection of artists who took part in the overall concept of this work.

MARCH 4th-9th, 2008

HANS HEMMERT AND LINDA AND THE FUNKY BOYS, SHAME ON YOU (1998, 4:20 min), Courtesy carlier | gebauer

A bubble made from latex, yellow and elastic, dances around Hans Hemmert's clinical studio space. It is reminiscent of a swollen egg- a form that is traditionally associated with origin and security.  Hemmert's "Egg Dance" stages the artistic forming process and denies it at the same time with every new startup, when the form is still and upright again. Club music plays in the background. In an intercultural cross-over the artist maintains the tradition of ovals as the prototype of a protective bubble like artists such as Piero della Francesca to Brancusi and Coop Himmelblau.   Secure and captive in abstract roundness, it seems that Hemmert's dance is a parody: a performance and a futile attempt for release from the prison of the abstraction. The artistic process of forming something perfect from raw material is no longer occuring, instead the artist slips into the form and works with it from inside. (Original Text: Reto Krüger, 1990)

Hans Martin Sewcz: FISH NIGHT MELODY

@ STARKE SCHOLARSHIP

AD-LIBBED FROM CHRISTIAN MORGENSTERN, (Moving Painting, 1995, 5:24 min)

Since the development of flat screens there is a new medium. Film sequences can now be shown on walls beside paintings, prints, etc.  A panel has learned to walk.  "Fish Night Melody" is an adaptation of the poem of the same name.  The people in the video move their lips silently to the two-line poem from Christian Morgenstern.  The rules: half-circle= round mouth, horizontal line= straight mouth. The images originated in 1995 during an opening from the Starke Scholarship, where the concept artist Hans Martin Sewcz asked the guests to mimic an interpretation of the poem in front of a camera. Among them are Jörg Starke and author Nicolaus Sombart.

MARCH 11th-MARCH 16th, 2008

Oliver Boberg: NACHT ORTE/ NIGHT SITES

DVD-PROJEKTION, (c) Oliver Boberg; Courtesy L.A. Galerie Lothar Albrecht, Frankfurt

TUESDAY, MARCH 11TH : "Wald/Forest" (2002),
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 12th : "Landstraße/Country Road" (2002),
THURSDAY, MARCH 13th : "Fabrikgelände/Factory Site" (2002),
FRIDAY, MARCH 14th : "Klippe/Cliff" (2003),
SATURDAY, MARCH 15th : "Gasse/Alley" (2003),
SUNDAY, MARCH 16th : "Brücke/Bridge" (2003)

Oliver Boberg's photographic works show familiar and seemingly unspectacular urban spaces: bare brickwork, garage doors, and parking lots. But none of these sites is real; every one is a photo of a miniature model made by the artist, so that it becomes a kind of compact place-typology. Through a combination of details and form modifications Boberg brings a heightened narrative dimension in his seemingly abstract photos. The films shown here shows this even more clearly, where he traces night locations.  In these videos just as in his photographic works, the viewer assumes he knows the setting, whether from personal or medial experiences.  For the design of the scenery, Boberg focuses solely on the associations of the viewers, whose imagination adds to the possibilities of the work.

FILM EVENINGS

THURSDAY, MARCH 20th AT 7 P.M.

EAST PHOTOGRAPHERS, a film from Pamela Meyer-Arnd. (2006, 71 min, German)

In a poetic time travel, the film introduces the east-Berliner photographers: Sibylle Bergemann, Helga Paris and Gundula Schulze Eldowy.  It shows important photo series from three decades of the GDR.  The photographers also give account about the photos' creation processes.  Every photo series takes on a delicate social theme.  Surprisingly, most were made public without problem. There was a comparatively large share of female photographers in the GDR. The three photographers presented in this film are three prominent representatives for their profession.

THURSDAY, MARCH 27th, AT 6 P.M. : TRIBUTE TO JÜRGEN BÖTTCHER (STRAWALDE)

OFENBAUER

(1962, b/w, 15 min)

Böttcher's first film where a working process is documented: in order exceed the planned quota, a 2000 ton and 56 meter high furnace in an iron works combine on the river Oder must be moved 18 meters.  Although the theme is quite similar to propaganda in the GDR, Böttcher presents this difficult work without a propaganda formula: only from O-tinting of the mechanical work process and the communication of the workers among themselves results in an authentic document of a difficult assignment.

WÄSCHERINNEN (WASHERS)

(1972, b/w, 24 min)

In his film, "Wäscherinnen (Washers)" Jürgen Böttcher turns to the apprentices of Rewatex and shows the everyday life of the difficult work of the women who work the washing machines and the big irons.  Through Böttcher's film, the viewer is given entrance into an unknown world in the middle of a laundry, with the hard-working, playful girls.

RANGIERER (SWITCHER),

(1984, b/w, 22 min)

In this documentary film, Jürgen Böttcher again shows workers under most difficult working conditions; that of the Dresden-Friedrich City switch station.  He observes the interlinking of the train cars during snow and rain storms. Through the raw documentation of this dangerous work the Böttcher is able to extract its own pathos and its own worth.

OPEN-AIR CONCERT

(2001, 88 min)

In the middle of Berlin on a historical location between Marienkirche and the Rotes Rathaus (City Hall) stands the "Marx-Engels-Forum" like a relic : a large, ambitious monument project of the former GDR. For his experimental documentary film, Jürgen Böttcher uses his own footage of the development of the monument from the years 1981-1986 and newly shot material exclusively on the Marx-Engels Forum. A large collage from the documentary footage from the artist who part of the original development and an intense observation of the present-day visitors to the anachronistic monument ensemble (families, couples, and tourists from all over the world take their pictures with the stiff, stoic figures of Marx and Engels).  The musical "storytellers", Günter "Baby" Sommer (perc.) and Dietmar Diesner (sax.), play throughout the film, bringing it structure and bringing the different material, that is sometimes rough, strange, and also grotesque in a manner of speaking to dancing. (PM from BASIS Film Verleih, 2001)

THURSDAY, APRIL 3rd, 6:30 P.M.

FIGURE PHOTOGRAPHY, FOR EXAMPLE GUNDULA SCHULZE,

a film from Helke Misslewitz (1983, 12 min)

In her film, Helke Misselwitz portrays the figure photographer, Gundula Schulze.  The director edits scenes of the artist's everyday life together with scenes of normal women at their daily jobs.

THE  PICTURE IS ME- GUNDULA SCHULZE ELDOWY.

PORTRAIT OF THE PHOTOGRAPHER, a film from Ludwig Metzger

(2001, 54 min)

Gundula Schulze, born in 1954 in Thüringen, is one of the most famous contemporary photographers in Germany. Distinguished with numerous international prises, she lives her life photographing in different countries around the world, every one a station for her work.  Receiving her education in the GDR, she began to work with a new concept of figure photography of the young and old- and became quickly famous, because her pictures presented a completely new approach to reality, and the image of humanity. Watched carefully from cultural officials, and sometimes controlled, she was able to create noteworthy city and figure portraits.  Ludwig Metzger follows the photographer from the beginning of her work through her contemporary works and delivers one of the most sensitive film portraits about Gundula Schulze Eldowy. Thanks to Siebenhaar Art Project Königstein/TS for the support.

BARBARA KLEMM. PICTURES,

a film from Otto Schweitzer

(1994, 53 min.)

Barbara Klemm, born in 1939 in Münster, is one of the most prominent annalists of recent German history.  As the editorial photographer for the Frankfurter Allgemeine newspaper, she was able to observe many decades of politics and society in both German states.  Many of her photos became part of the memories of Germany and with that, a part of Germany's political memory. Otto Schweitzer portrays the artist in 1994 and makes possible a look rich in details of her photographic work.

THURSDAY, APRIL 17th, 7 P.M.

Hans Martin Sewcz:

AESTHETICS NOW: EVERYTHING STARTS WITH AESTHETICS

(Vid Potpourri, 45 min.)

The video potpourri is made up of short articles about the different subjects of the photographer and concept artist, Hans Martin Sewcz as well as his creative experimental examination of the media, film.  In the 1970s, during his studies at the Leipzig Academy of Visual Arts, he documented the dilapidated streets of Leipzig and East-Berlin and portrayed the youth and artists of the cities. In the 1980s he dealt with the product culture of the GDR.  He then experienced the fall of the wall as a west Berliner and collected the GDR product packaging.  Installations and art-on-site projects followed. Since the 1990s he records the present and the attitude of life as film: street scenes, techno parades, (artist) portraits, "ready founds", autobiography ... (H.M.S.)

TURN-AROUND IMAGES: FIVE PHOTOS AND THEIR STORY,

a film from Karoline Kleinert, issued by the Bundesstiftung zur Aufarbeitung der SED-Diktatur (Federal Foundation to the reprocessing of the SED Dictatorship)

(2006, 45 min.)

The Autumn of 1989 was an exciting time in the GDR. A country had begun a movement and was becoming caught, even in the farthest reaches, in a wave of change: the peaceful revolution.  In the vortex of the events the most different kinds of people came into contact with one another.  And luckily, many of them were photographed in Autumn of 1989.  The people wanted to capture the inconceivable that they were living almost daily. The film follows the tracks of five of these photos and follows the people being photographed, the photographers, and the people tell their very personal stories behind these images. At the first Monday-Demonstration, the photographer Johannes Beleites made a very unique photograph of the street car driver Steffen Schulz, who was stuck with his street car in the middle of the demonstration. Another photo approaches a memorable German-French story between the East Berlin artist Manfred Butzmann and the Daniel Boulogne from Paris. ... (Text from the film)

Thanks to the Bundesstiftung zur Aufarbeitung der SED-Diktatur.    

THURSDAY, APRIL 24th  2008, 7 P.M.

SOPHIE CALLE,

a film from Ben Lewis from the series ART SAFARI

(26 min)

The name says it all. With Ben Lewis: art fanatic and prise-winning director and author hunting big game in the jungle of contemporary art and discovers the unusual sides of the prominent as well as controversial artists from around the world. Informative, but not instructive, witty but not shallow, Lewis traces among others the Italian sculptor Maurizio Cattelan, the French photographer and action artist Sophie Calle, "Creammaster" Matthew Barney, the Spanish political art agitator Santiago Sierra, the German Biennial star Gregor Schneider as well as one of the wildest artists the world has seen: the Belgian Wim Delvoye with his tattooed pigs. (Text from the film)

GURSKY WORLD,

a film from Ben Lewis from the series ART SAFARI (English)

Film-maker and art lover Ben Lewis meets German photographer Andreas Gursky. In the first programme of a major new arts strand, Ben Lewis's amusing odyssey delves into the world of the planet's most influential photographer, Andreas Gursky. Trying to find out what makes Gursky tick, Lewis's bizarre journey takes him on an adventure from Reading to Düsseldorf. When he meets finally his hero, he gains a fuller understanding of what it means to live in a 'Gursky World'. (Text from the film)

SYLVIE FLEURY: TWINKLE

(1992, 30 min.)

Sylvie Fleury (Born in Genf in 1961) is known for her stagings of glamour, fashion, as well as luxury items of the modern consumer world. Her works take effect at first glance as an apparent endorsement to the worth of the consumer market, but Fleury always subtly comments on the illusiveness of these things. The stagings and surfaces of her conceived objects, wall works, pictures and room installations achieve an intrinsic value far beyond a simple product advertisement or a staging for a brand name.  The slogans that Fleury has taken up are not just Logos of internationally known fashion stores, perfumeries, or glamour magazines.  With the use of this brand, Fleury labels the human longings and ideals that are connected to these things.

THURSDAY, MAY 1st 2008, 7 P.M.

JÜRGEN KLAUKE'S BOREDOM,

a film from Thomas Schmitt (1983/1984, 44 min) and

AN ETERNITY- A SMILE,

a film from Thomas Schmitt and Jürgen Klauke (1993, 45 min)

"I address the irresolvable conflict with ourselves and the connected `wonderful failure´ that, if it doesn't make us go insane, makes our existence enjoyable." (J.K.) Jürgen Klauke, born in 1943 in Kilding/Cochem an der Mosel, is deemed to be a pioneer for the acknowledgement of photography as an art form. Klauke is known mostly for his photographed and filmed performances. In them, Klauke uses himself as the focus of his observations and with his fictional identities he airs the "drama" of human conflicts.  His special quality is the ability to irritate the viewer so that he must let go of his theoretical "drawer". His works act as a mirror of the human psyche and show the viewer their often unspoken, suppressed desires. As one of the first to use his body as the center of his works, he has made international standards within the art form "Body-Art".

Martin Zeller: 412-432 (Multi-media staging, 1991)

Zeller's industrial landscapes, altogether night images with long exposure time allow an artificial mood to develop, that to the eyes of even the most attentive viewer remains unseen.  The artificiality of a man-made environment finds its direct counterpart in the artificiality of the final photo that the photographer intentionally influences, though he cannot anticipate its every detail. The emerging "false" colour-balance is that of a chemical laboratory and enables remote associations with neon lights and the atmosphere of a big city. The absence of any human presence in the pictures solidifies them in a dream-like combination. The traces of human existence represent a disappearance from the planet. With this, they become metaphors of the past, but also moments of a "time out", a reflection about the manifestation of technological civilization. The tranquillity and intensity that comes from the photographs leave something as vital as water surfaces untouched and looking like inanimate matter. (Dr. Martin Stather)

THURSDAY, MAY 8th, 7 P.M.

Maix Mayer: CANYON

(2006, 8:48 min),

"ABG" (ALTENBURG)

(2007, 9:43 min.)

HABITAT

(2008, 22 min)

Maix Mayer's film loop integrates the theme of urbanity with questions of perception.  Based on his interests of scientific methods and the speech patterns of movies and fine art, Maix Mayer designs his works in which actual existing architectural structures are interwoven with dream sequences.  The installation "canyon" tells of a tangible architectural structures and spaces in different locations.  Through the cinematic homogenisation of different functional locations a type of utopian city is formed but only as cinematic reality. "Habitat" performs as a parallel storyline on two islands in two cultural societies that represent two complimentary partial habitats from the northern and the southern hemisphere.  These diverse locations are linked with each other through actual and imaginary journeys of the protagonist.  The film "abg" came into being during the exhibition project "Altenburg- A Province in Europe" in the Lindenau-Museum Altenburg/Thüringen and documents the gradual destruction of the small city of Heuersdorf, the victim of brown coal strip-mining.  The people in the film seem, on one hand, to be caught in space and time, but on the other hand, the scenes are kept open in order to allow the film to be interpreted in different ways.