Monika Rechsteiner — Reality Check

<body> <img src="images/RechsteinerWebFlyer.jpg" width="700" height="397" border="0" alt="Monika Rechsteiner - Reality Check" title="Monika Rechsteiner - Reality Check"><br clear="all"> <h4>directors lounge monthly screening</h4> <h3>monika rechsteiner<br> reality check</h3> <p>Thursday, 25 July 2013<br> 21:00<br> Z-Bar<br> Bergstraße 2<br> 10115 Berlin-Mitte</p> <p>Monika Rechsteiner's films are metaphers of spaces, which unfold over the time of their viewing. Firstly, they seem to be long panorama travels over photographic stills. This unfamiliar and possibly uncanny reduction seems to go against expectations of movement and depth in films. However the camera travels further onto different picture planes and different points-of-view. The films present frames and skeleton constructions of buildings, unfinished ruins or uncanny city panoramas, which seems to unfold from the inside. At the same time, the written or spoken discourse leads towards a completely different level. While discussing art and the production of art, or the unfolding ticker-news about Fukushima in 2011, we still are lead to a self-reflection of our perceptions. The realistically recorded and presented spaces thus turn into metaphors, into mental constructions. The program presents more well-known pieces such as “To Be Continued" (about Tokyo-Fukushima) and “Wie von Selbst" (As If By Itself), but also less known short works that originated in Super-8 and digital video.</p> <p>Monika Rechsteiner has developed her own technique of composing films from many stills and some short film clips. The artist started her filmmaking with stop-motion on Super-8, a technique that requires photographing every single frame of a film of 18 or 24 frames per second. A further merging of still and moving images thus seems a consequent development, especially with the new DSLR cameras. Rechsteiner's films require a precise preparation for the camera “travels", however the composition of the films largely develop at home when editing the material made of hundreds of photographs. The photographed spaces are often empty constructions frames or ruins of unfinished buildings, like the concrete frames of the power plant of Stendal, a Chernobyl-type plant that never started ignition of the nuclear fire. If it would have been put into operation, it would have been the largest power plant in Germany. The construction frames are amazingly colorful and have inspiring textures. The first person voice-over text however talks about the processes of making art. The artist used texts of two art historians and one writer from Aargau the kanton in Switzerland operating the highest number of power plants in Switzerland. The text rather seems to be a self-reflection of the artist on making art, and thus questions the purely aesthetic reading of the surfaces in more than ambivalent ways.</p> <p>It may have been pure chance that another nuclear power related film was conceived by Monika. Shortly after her stay in Tokyo, when she had the impulse to shoot at night the otherwise overly crowded streets of Tokyo. The nuclear disaster of Fukushima emptied the otherwise crowded streets of Tokyo for a few weeks, thus giving the pictures of the artist a totally different meaning. Adding lines from the news-ticker onto an otherwise silent film only seems to be consequent, and furthermore questions the reality of what we see.</p> <p>Not always with a focus on politics, Monika Rechsteiners films seem to take built space as a metaphor for the mind. Especially unfinished spaces or ruins apparently “speak" with a voice on their own. The combination of text and images, both telling a different “story" challenges the viewer to find their own interpretations. The requirement for the viewer to construct their own sense may be stronger with the single channel pieces shown in this screening than in her multi-channel installations in exhibitions, when the viewer may be overwhelmed by the presence of the surrounding images. At the same time the screening may give more freedom for interpretation. Thus, we shall also look forward to an interesting discussion with the artist after the films.</p> <p> Curated by Klaus W. Eisenlohr</p> <b>Artist Links:</b><br> <a href="http://www.echtzeitverdichtung.org" target="_blank" title="Monika Rechsteiner">http://www.echtzeitverdichtung.org</a> <p><b>Links:</b><br> Directors Lounge<br> <a href="http://www.directorslounge.net" target="_blank" title="Directors Lounge">http://www.directorslounge.net</a> <br> Z-Bar<br> <h4>directors lounge monthly screening</h4> <h3>Monika Rechsteiner<br> Reality Check </h3> <p>Donnerstag, 25. Juli 2013<br> 21:00<br> Z-Bar<br> Bergstraße 2<br> 10115 Berlin-Mitte</p> <p>Monika Rechsteiners Filme sind Raummetaphern, die sich über die Zeit ihrer Betrachtung entwickeln. Zunächst folgen wir langen Panoramafahrten der Kamera über stillstehende Bilder, eine ungewohnte Reduktion, die gegen die filmische Erwartung von Bewegung und Tiefe steht, und doch führt uns die Kamera immer wieder in andere Tiefen und Blickwinkel des Raumes. Es sind häufig Rohbauten oder Bauruinen, aber auch eigentümliche Stadtansichten, die sich aus ihrer Räumlichkeit selbst zu entwickeln scheinen. Zugleich führt uns ein Text, eingesprochen oder als Laufband auf eine ganz andere Ebene, der uns aber dennoch, ob es sich um Fragen der Kunst handelt, oder die Ereignisse um Fukushima, zurückführt auf eine Selbstreflexion der filmischen Wahrnehmung. Die realistisch abgebildeten Räume werden so zu Metaphern, zu Gedanken-Gebäuden. Das Programm zeigt bekanntere Filme Rechsteiners wie “To Be Continued" (über Tokyo-Fukushima) und “Wie von Selbst", als auch weniger bekannte Kurzfilme mit Super-8 und digitalem Video gedreht.</p> <p>Die Künstlerin ist anwesend, mit anschließender Diskussion. Kuratiert von Klaus W. Eisenlohr.</p> <p>Artist Links:<br> <a href="http://www.echtzeitverdichtung.org" target="_blank" title="Monika Rechsteiner Homapage">http://www.echtzeitverdichtung.org</a></p> <p><b>Links</b>:<br> Directors Lounge<br> <a href="http://www.directorslounge.net" target="_blank" title="Directors Lounge">http://www.directorslounge.net</a> <br> Z-Bar<br> <a href="http://www.z-bar.de" target="_blank" title="Z-Bar">http://www.z-bar.de</a></p> </body>