European borders

Border, an exhibition of works by Martin Sigmund, is on display until 28 March in Stuttgart. The photographs show a collection of deserted border checkpoints across Europe made redundant by the Schengen Agreement, and express a sense of the past and nostalgia.

I wondered if the description "D-DDR" on the label for the Dreilinden Checkpoint Bravo photo was intentional (as opposed to saying "BRD-DDR"). Although it made me think about the FRG-GDR relationship, the photographer later told me that he chose to use D and DDR based on car national identification stickers, which I think is appropriate as these checkpoints were inspecting cars crossing the border.

Photo Presse (2012) Martin Sigmund. Border [Online]
 http://www.photopresse.de/content/view/10162/52/ [15/02/2012]
Sigmund, Martin [2012] Border [Online]
http://www.martinsigmund.com/ [15/02/2012]
TREFFPUNKT Rotebühlplatz (2012) Martin Sigmund | Border [Online]
 http://www.treffpunkt-rotebuehlplatz.de/ausstellungen/ [15/02/2012]

Reynolds' time

"The building's dazzling public lobby, surrounded by several tiers, was once the center of social life in East Berlin with thousands of sparkling lamps filling the open space of the lobby's grand staircase. Many Berliners recall attending a play in one of the theaters or dancing the night away in the underground disco, others seeing their first rock concert, or being married. Later, thousands of citizens demonstrated against the planned demolition and hoped the building would be protected against historical censorship, but alas, one day, twenty years after the fall of the Berlin wall, the Palace completely disappeared." (Artstudio Reynolds, 2011a) 

Reynold Reynolds' film Letzter Tag der Republik / Last Day of the Republic (2010) captures the destruction of the Palast, opened in 1976 as "an emblem of the future" of East Germany [Reynold-reynolds.com, 2012a]. Reynolds has also produced Stadtplan (2004),  "a personal and hypnotic, split-screen and time-lapsed trip through Berlin," using the divide between the images to signify Germany's divide (Artstudio Reynolds, 2011b).

The Secrets Trilogy, composed of Secret Life (2008), Secret Machine (2009) and Six Easy Pieces (2010) (HKW, 2011), questions time and space. For the final production of Six Easy Pieces, Reynolds moved his entire studio into the Haus der Kulturen der Welt producing the film live before the audience, combining filming with performance [Node Berlin, 2012].

Artstudio Reynolds (2011a) Letzter Tag der Republik/ Last Day of the RepublicGermany (2010) [Online]
 http://vimeo.com/26032322 [17/02/2012]
Artstudio Reynolds (2011b) Stadtplan. [Online]
 http://vimeo.com/16743958 [19/02/2012]
HKW (2011) Labor Berlin 4: Reynold Reynolds: The Secrets Trilogy. [Online]
 http://www.hkw.de/en/programm/2011/labor_berlin_2011/veranstaltungen_53773/Veranstaltungsdetail_53537.php [17/02/2012]
Node Berlin [2012] Labor No. 4, Reynold Reynolds. [Online]
 http://nodeberlin.com/archive/labor-no.-4--reynold-reynolds [17/02/2012]

Reynold-reynolds.com [2012a] Letzter Tag der Republik (Last Day of the Republic) [Online]
 http://www.reynold-reynolds.com/pages/documentary.htm [17/02/2012]
Reynold-reynolds.com [2012] Secret Life. [Online]
 http://www.reynold-reynolds.com/pages/secret_life.htm [19/02/2012]
Reynold-reynolds.com [2012] Secret Machine. [Online]
 http://www.reynold-reynolds.com/pages/secret_machine.htm [19/02/2012]
Reynold-reynolds.com [2012] Six Easy Pieces. [Online]
 http://www.reynold-reynolds.com/pages/six-easy-pieces.htm [19/02/2012]
transmediale.de [2012] [Online] http://www.transmediale.de/content/letzter-tag-der-republik [17/02/2012]

Transition and time over Berlin

In David Lamelas' silent film Time As Activity: Berlin (1998) shot from a helicopter flying over the city from West to East, the viewers witness large scale rebuilding of the city. The work "prompts a meditative reverie on the passage of time and how history is formed" and combines "the personal, individual histories of betrayal, loss and families torn apart to the more recent formation of a new Germany bringing its own set of problems" and leading us to question "who decides what remains" (Holt, 2005a). The film also brings into question "the significance of the notated time" as it allows "loose formulation to be transposed across time and space" creating different resonant with each location and becomes "a profound reflection on the passing of time, that transcends individual experience and incorporates the great swathes of historical change" (Holt, 2005b).

Holt, Jacqueline (2005a) David Lamelas. [Online] 
 http://www.luxonline.org.uk/artists/david_lamelas/essay(1).html [22/02/2012]
Holt, Jacqueline (2005b) David Lamelas. [Online] 
 http://www.luxonline.org.uk/artists/david_lamelas/essay(4).html [22/02/2012]
Lux Online (2005) Time as Activity (Berlin). [Online] 
 http://www.luxonline.org.uk/artists/david_lamelas/berlin_time_as_activity.html [22/02/2012]

Comer, Stuart (2005) David Lamelas: The Limits of Documentary [Online]
http://www.luxonline.org.uk/articles/the_limits_of_documentary(1).html [22/02/2012]
Tate Channel (2008) TateShots: David Lamelas [Online]
 http://channel.tate.org.uk/media/26515690001 [22/02/2012]

Eve Sussman, in the flow of time

Thinking back on exhibitions at Haunch of Venison... the film whiteonwhite:algorithmicnoir by Eve Sussman is an "expedition to unravel utopian promise". The film was being edited in real time by a software from 2637 video clips, creating "the narrative through unexpected juxtapositions" of endless and never repeated scenes (Haunch of Venison London, 2011).

Sussman with Angela Christlieb created How to tell the future from the past v.2, shot during a 72 hour train journey across Central Asia. The three screen video work conceptualises passing time with "the manifestation of humanity as the constant, as daily life runs backwards and forwards simultaneously" [Haunch of Venison, 2012]. Wintergarden by Sussman and Simon Lee focus on and merges Soviet windows in 3 channel video showing the shift of time. The curator and director of HoV Nina Miall calls it "a meditation on how the current inhabitants of old Soviet housing blocks today assert their individuality... by personalizing the decaying totalitarian balconies" (Redstone, 2011).

Haunch of Venison [2012] London: Eve Sussman | Rufus Corporation [Online]
 http://haunchofvenison.com/exhibitions/past/2011/eve_sussman_rufus_corporation/ [21/02/2012]
Haunch of Venison London (2011) Eve Sussman | Rufus Corporation  whiteonwhite:algorithmicnoir. [Information sheet]. p.1.

Redstone, Elias (2011) London Underground | Urban Narratives. [Online]
 http://tmagazine.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/04/28/london-underground-urban-narratives/ [21/02/2012]
rufus corporation [2012] How to tell the future from the past v.2 [Online]

 http://www.rufuscorporation.com/projects.html# [21/02/2012]

Loop [2012] Eve Sussman & Simon Lee [Online]
 http://www.loop-barcelona.com/eng/fitxa.php?id=496 [21/02/2012]

Fictional reality by Nicolas Provost

"The film starts with an off-screen dialogue between a young couple, ready to embark on a romantic adventure. What happens next? Provost will tell their story by using nothing but stock footage exterior shots of a Boeing plane, flying towards a sunset." [Moving Stories, 2012]

Nicolas Provost created Untitled (2010) entirely from stock footage. The artist shows that prefabricated clips often used by filmmakers to cut cost can bring aesthetic and cinematic values and narrate a story [Moving Stories, 2012]. 

Provost has also produced Stardust [above], second part of the trilogy where Provost explores the boundaries between fiction and reality, "by using cinematographic and narrative codes from the Hollywood film language" [Nicolasprovost.com, 2012a], as well as Storyteller [below], in which the artist "manoeuvres and influences the interpretation of images, carefully balancing between the figurative and the abstract" [Nicolasprovost.com, 2012].

Moving Stories [2012] Untitled. [Online]

 http://www.moving-stories.eu/artists/nicolas-provost [20/02/2012]

Nicolasprovost.com [2012a] Stardust [Online]

 http://www.nicolasprovost.com/#/work/1/Stardust [20/02/2012]

Nicolasprovost.com [2012b] Storyteller [Online]

 http://www.nicolasprovost.com/#/work/2/Storyteller [20/02/2012]

DOUBT

Palast der Republik was abandoned for 15 years after the fall of the GDR. Monitoring debates about the future of the building, Lars Ø Ramberg developed the idea where doubt has become a proof of democracy, and to symbolize this phenomenon in 2005 he created Palast des Zweifels – the Palace of Doubt [Larsramberg.de, 2012]. Ramberg had been collecting newspaper articles with the word "Zweifel" (doubt) in the headline, and printed  Zweifel Allgemeine with the headlines of these articles [Node Berlin, 2012].

Larsramberg.de [2012] Palast des Zweifels [Online]
http://www.larsramberg.de/1/viewentry/3890 [17/02/2012]
Node Berlin [2012] Zweifel Allgemeine [Online]
 http://nodeberlin.com/archive/zweifel-allgemeine [17/02/2012]