contribution # 4 | GOETHES GEDÄCHTNIS | noud heerkens and arnold schalks
in the nineties, the rotterdam goethe-institute moved to the westersingel. _in the basement of the building at the ’s-gravendijkwal some hundred solid black boxes were left behind: the face of germany stored on miles of 16 mm film. _via the basement of the ex-operator, filmmaker, curator and producer noud heerkens, the archive ended up in the ocw storage space. _for goethes gedächtnis, heerkens and artist arnold schalks took a pick from 16 mm 'kulturerbe' that was saved from the refuse container and matched it with a current cinematic counterpart. _for crimmp_20, the 16 minutes long artfilm 'la belle epoque' by the german moviemaker lore volksmann-niessing from 1977 was combined with ‘i am under construction’, a short film by the dutch video artist ennya larmit from 2015.
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‘la belle epoque’ is, according to the insert, an impressive attempt at a poetic analysis of 'jugendstil' as a principle of form and design. _here, the world of decadence is shown in its aesthetic attraction, refinement and complexity in interesting scenes. _production: sonnenring filmproduktion. _script: lore von volkman-niessing. regie: lore von volkman-niessing and boris moravec. _cited 'particularly valuable' by the deutsche film und medienbewertung-wiesbaden. _tv use not permitted in fedral republic of germany, austria and switzerland. _no commentary.
‘i am under construction’ is about the strangeness and absurdity of the beauty rituals of women. _the repeating daily construction of your own image; the beauty of making yourself beautiful and transforming yourself. But also the struggle of the neverending cyclus of the destruction of the same image. _’i am under construction’ has been nominated for the TENT academy awards 2015, and became a finalist. ennyalarmit.com
ennya larmit (foto © florian cramer)
