T.W.B.T.C in Berlin

 To Whom Belongs The City | A Chi Appartiene La Città
Wem gehört die Stadt 

Video, 30 minutes, colour with audio, 2011; 16-channel-video-installation, colour with audio, approx. 480 min. (total), 2012

 Synopsis 

The video «T.W.B.T.C» is part of a video installation shown at Berlin based art & project space «alpha nova kulturwerkstatt & galerie futura», April 28 to June 6 2012 [ exhibition details ].

The 30 minutes video T.W.B.T.C (To whom belongs the city) condenses twenty-five recorded encounters with women of different ages in seven European cities (over a four years periode 2006–2010). The conversations expose the cultural and social background of the protagonists’s own praxis and daily routine. The interview partners chose a meeting point in their respective city, description of place and meaning gave the opening for the recordings.

The video develops a discursive contribution, which highlights the sights of the (female) interviewed on the (global) city and society, hence a living environment related to all its possibilities and restrictions. These personal statements outline a multifaceted view of the cities.

Where does the postulates of the emancipatory movement in the 21st century stand? Is being a Feminist still an imperative? Or are there demands of a different challenge of solidarity, that can outreach social- and cultural borders, when the plain image of civil society are under pressure and steadily scrutinized?
by Erik Dettwiler

 Berlin exhibition 

Opening: Friday 27.04.2012 – 6:30 PM
28.04.–06.06.12 | Wed–Sat 4–7 pm | Am Flutgraben 3, 12435 Berlin
alpha nova kulturwerkstatt & galerie futura [ map ]

Artist talk: Saturday 19.05.2012 – 2:30 PM
«2nd Month of Performance Art Berlin» | Am Flutgraben 3, 12435 Berlin
Flutgraben e. V. and alpha nova kulturwerkstatt & galerie futura [ map ]

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Embedded video, pict and txt all by [ dewil.ch ], cc 2012

Neither the sun nor death

Neither the sun nor death, Pigeon monotype

Neither the sun nor death can be looked at with a steady eye.
François, Duc de La Rochefoucauld

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Anti-mimesis is a philosophical position that holds the direct opposite of mimesis. Its most notable proponent is Oscar Wilde, who held in his 1889 essay The Decay of Lying that  «Life imitates Art far more than Art imitates Life».  In the essay, written as a Platonic dialogue, Wilde holds that such anti-mimesis «results not merely from Life’s imitative instinct, but from the fact that the self-conscious aim of Life is to find expression, and that Art offers it certain beautiful forms through which it may realise that energy». [ wikipedia ]

The Decay Of Lying: [ An Observation ]
pict by [ dewil.ch ] (cc) Berlin, March 24 2012

T.W.B.T.C

 To Whom Belongs The City | A Chi Appartiene La Città 
 Wem gehört die Stadt 

Video, 30 minutes, colour with audio, 2011; 25-channel-video-installation, colour with audio, approx. 600 min. (total), 2011

 Synopsis 

The video «T.W.B.T.C» is part of a video installation shown at the Basel art and project space KASKO, March 5–20, 2011 [ KASKO ].

The 30 minutes video «T.W.B.T.C» is concentrating a collection of the twenty-five video interviews. The video conversations were recorded over a four years periode (2006–2010). The setting takes place in a backdrop of seven living environments, job locations and metropolis, involving the following venues: South-, Southeast and Central European cities like Rome, Bucharest, Berlin, Basel, Geneva, Lausanne and Zurich.

Are there any meeting points? How distinguishable are these metropolis in a Europe of ‘common’ boundaries?

The focus of the video work are twenty-five encounters with women. All dealing with cultural background, out of their own praxis intriguing daily routine and surroundings emerge. The interview partners chose a meeting point in their respectively city. The description of place and meaning gave the opening for the recordings. These highly personal statements outlined a multifaceted view of the cities.

The video wants to develop a discursive contribution, which should highlight the sights of the (female) interviewed on the (global) city and society—hence a living environment related to all its possibilities and restrictions.

Where does the postulates of the emancipatory movement in the 21st century stand? Is being a Feminist still an imperative? Or are there demands of a different challenge of solidarity, that can outreach social- and cultural borders, when the plain image of civil society are under pressure and steadily scrutinized? There are always people with migration background living in cities and yet still they are often denied to claim for their civil rights.
by Erik Dettwiler

Opening: Friday 4.03.2011 – 7 PM
6.03.–20.03.11 | Thu–Su 4–8 pm | CH-4058 Basel
[ Kasko ] Projektraum für aktuelle Kunst und Performance
Opening: Thursday 10.03.2011 – 6 PM
10.03.–15.03.11 | CH-Biel/Bienne
[ Lokal-int ] Raum für zeitgenössische Kunst

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Video stills, video trailer and txt all by [ dewil.ch ], cc 2011