Lerne Deutsch mit Petra Von Kant
(Learn German with Petra Von Kant)
|
|
digital video installation
10 mins
2007
This work was developed by the artist as part of a
personal, self-designed German language and cultural immersion
programme, while he was preparing to relocate to Berlin in August 2007.
Believing that one of the best ways to get insight into a foreign
culture is through the films of that country, the artist has
adopted one of his favourite German films as his guide, The Bitter
Tears of Petra von Kant (1972) by Rainer Werner Fassbinder, about a successful
but arrogant fashion designer in her mid-thirties, who falls into
despair when she loses the woman she loves.
Putting himself in the mould of German actress Margit Carstensen as Petra Von Kant - a role for which she won several awards -
the artist attempts to articulate himself through as wide a range
of emotions as displayed by the actress in the climactic scene from the film, where our tragic lovesick anti-heroine goes through a
hysterical disintegration.
With this work the artist rehearses going through the motions and
emotions and articulating the words for situations that he believes
he may encounter when he moves to Berlin as a post-35-year-old,
single, gay, ethnic-minority mid-career artist - i.e. feeling
bitter, desperate, or washed up. ("Ich bin im Arsch")
With these tools, he will be armed with the right words and modes
of expressions to communicate his feelings effectively to his potential German compatriots.
Exhibited at:
Everybody Knows This is Nowhere
Galerie Wendt + Friedmann, Berlin, 11 July - 16 Aug 2008. Curated by Marc Wellmann and David Keating.
Streng Verdaulich
ZKM Center for Art& Media, Karlsruhe, 26 June - 20 July 2008. Curated by Ludwig Seyfarth and Chantal Blatzheim.
KUNSTINVASION
Blumengroßmart, Berlin 31 May - 1 June 2008. Curated by the Initiative Berliner Kunsthalle.
Futurama and re-inventing tradition?
Collegium Hungaricum Berlin, Mar-May 2007. Curated by Janos Fodor and Lise Nellemann.
S.T.O.R.A.G.E : Ming Wong
The Agency Gallery, London Sept-Oct 2007. Curated by Bea D'Souza.
[weblink]
Screened at:
Kunstverein Dusseldorf Filmprogramm
Kunstverein Dusseldorf, 3 May - 20 July 2008. In conjunction with the exhibition Ähnliches und Mögliches - levels of enactment by Eske Schlüters .
Damn! I Wish I’d Done That!! Artist’s Works I Wish I’d Made
a selection of works from the Zabludowicz, LUX and other collections, curated by Harold Offeh.
Project Space 176, London 28 Feb 2008.
This program was also shown at Chapter in Wales, 26 Apr - 4 May 2008, curated by Hannah Firth.
