NSU-processing at the Videonale

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The Videonale, an exhibition of video installations from all over the world. The short film “Depth of field” on the NSU murders and criticized at the same time, the media coverage.

As a student initiative established, it is now one of the most renowned Festivals for video art in Europe: the Videonale. International artists from Taiwan, India, Israel, Germany and Europe from here. A total of 29 audio-visual contributions: video installations, short films, experimental art films. Classic, linear formats? . But these movies often deal with relevant issues.

“We show a lot of Work, which relies on reports from the regular media, and reprocessing,” says curator Tasja Langenbach. As an example, she cites the work of “Depth of field” of the two German film Alexandra Gerbaulet and Mareike Bernien. Of the nearly 15-minute Film deals with the NSU murders. Places to see in Nuremberg, the site of three murders committed by the NSU between 2000 and 2005. Simple pictures of a house front, a forest, a street, make statements about legal misconduct and the problem of the media reporting is all the more powerful.

The images are always flipped back, the normalcy is broken. It is criticized, among other things, that long only in the direction of the affected families was determined, which were imagined to be “perpetrators,” as the artists say. The media would have disseminated this image. Names were long in the news not to be present, says Tasja Langenbach. The Video gives back to the Victims now of your name. The two artists have to say, your Film was born out of “anger, rage, and malaise, as well as a long-term employment” with the NSU murders.

Motto: Broken Realities

The Motto this year is “Refracted Realities” (dt. “Broken Realities”). In particular, the question is addressed of how artistic media can take a hard look at their own role. Out of 1100 entries from 66 countries, a Jury has selected the 29 exhibits. “The selection process is actually very subjective. We have few formal guidelines; the Work must not be older than two years, otherwise it is very open,” says Langenbach. “We have to ask ourselves: What do we like? What is a relevant statement for us? Which artist, we have the feeling that he or she is working on a new way with the Material and the camera?”

Movies run in a loop

The Videonale shows the movies like other film festivals in the cinema, but at the Kunstmuseum in Bonn. In the Videonale exhibition of the films run on a loop and share the space with other contributions. A total of 13 hours and 44 minutes image material. Hardly possible, during a visit to check in. But that’s how it was intended, says Tasja Langenbach. Most of the Works were designed so that you could capture through the fragmentary perception of the work, its meaning and Intention. Hardly a work of linear thought.

Museum Director Stephen Berg and the curator of the exhibition Tasja Langenbach

“A painting exhibition, you can go through to loose in 15 minutes, not perceived then really. It has been scanned once, but not everything is internalized. A prolonged viewing of the screen allows for certain aesthetic experiences,” says Stephan Berg, Director of the art Museum.

Depressing mood: “I see you”

The French artist Stéphanie Lagarde linked to in your Film “Déploiements” (dt. “Inserts”) video recordings of real soldiers with a virtual mass of people that moved on a demonstration through the streets. At some point, the police and the Mob in the way. Military commands can be heard from the Off, coupled with an ominous “I see you” (dt. “I see you”). Virtuality in video game look blurred with the reality. Lagarde plays with her Film on Surveillance in the public space, as well as the transparency in social media.

A lot to discover: Videonale presents almost 14 hours of Film in an exhibition

A recurring theme: digitization and social media

“We have more Work than in the past, the deal in terms of content, with social media, a lot of rear handles on the media with which we interact on a daily basis. Both the content and the aesthetic of the image area. The artists use imagery from the Internet as a Potter’s clay.” This was a subject that would have to be concentrated in this year, many artists – no matter what age and of any nationality.

One of these artist Stefan Panhans. In “Hostel”, the Mini-series of the German inter-five performers operate in a multi-bed room with each other and with the language assistant Siri, and Alexa. The Performance is reminiscent of a theatre, the actors carry their real names and personal attitudes and experiences. Everyday racism, gender roles and language are dominant themes, but also the digitization and social media, which would increasingly lead to an Overstrain of mankind.

Indian submission is the winner of Videonale-Preis

At the opening of Videonale-the Panhans, the Jury has received an honorary mention, the 5000 Euro awarded to the Videonale prize went to Sohrab Hura from India, its almost 120-minute contribution of the longest in the exhibition, and the voyeuristic, faster and faster, consecutive pictures of the socio-political developments in India.

The exhibition of the Videonale-Festival is from the 21st century. February to 14. To see April 2019 at the Kunstmuseum in Bonn.