Kedai Kebun

Arts – Plants – Kitchen

Screening Experimental Music Video Compilation 2008-2015 “Zur Rettung der Popkultur (Saving Pop Culture)” – German Film Club

German Film Club

Cooperation between Kedai Kebun Forum (KKF) and Goethe Institut Jakarta

Wednesday, 2 May 2018, 7.00 pm
Auditorium, Kedai Kebun Forum (KKF)
Jl. Tirtodipuran 3, Yogyakarta
Open for public and free

presents

Saving Pop Culture (Zur Rettung der Popkultur)

Experimental German Music Videos 2008-2015

Various Directors, 82 min., German with English subtitles

INTRODUCTION

With this third chapter, the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen and the Goethe-Institut continue to document and present experimental, bold and exceptional German music videos. The following 18 videos from 2008-2015 show that there is still much to be discovered with regard to German music videos, but also that a high level of artistry has been maintained when it comes to some musicians, who have been committed to creating sophisticated visual forms for nearly two decades.

Music videos are the visual components of pop music. Music television, which in the 1980s spectacularly expanded the visual side of music far beyond the record cover, thus creating a new dimension in music and images for pop and subcultures, is now history. Today, MTV, the birthplace of the music video as we know it, only shows soap operas for a limited audience on pay TV. But music videos are now available on other channels and are spreading on special internet platforms, such as Vimeo and Vevo, Tape.tv and Clipfish in Germany, and recently, Spotify and Facebook, as well as Youtube, of course. Increasing bandwidths and the extensive spread of mobile phones world-wide have made it possible to watch music videos while out and about, or in your own living room. Likewise, music videos have also become an element of physical spaces, such as in clubs in southern countries, which would be unthinkable without screens showing video clips along with the club music. As in the past, pop and subcultures teach and spread styles, poses, dance moves and social practices through music videos.

The end of music television and the crisis faced by the recording industry have certainly changed the economic framework conditions. At the same time, however, video clips have been freed from the constraints and standardisation of music television and have fanned out as an independent audiovisual art form in a variety of ways. Their forms have become more diverse in Germany, too. Their connections and transition into art, video and experimental film are more powerful than in the era of music television.

It’s hard to imagine the excitement today, when in 1998, the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen introduced an international panorama of music videos as part of the festival programme. The following year, it launched the MuVi Award for the best German music video. Selecting music videos based on authorship and trademark style, artistic aspirations, experimental grasp and independent use of form, showing them at a festival as part of the new German cultural history and spreading them all over the world through the Goethe-Institut’s programme is no longer a scandal or a surprise. In this regard, the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen has made history, and its cooperation with the Goethe-Institut has played a role in that.

However, providing a platform for artistic music videos is still an important task. This still-questionable task includes the implementation of standards in the selection and presentation of music videos and the maintenance of specific cultural qualities, something which only very few film festivals and internet forums currently do. And in the era of an increasingly confusing, hardly contextualised archive of pop and videos on YouTube and Vimeo, it’s important to archive and document which videos have received awards and been showcased. Today, this may be more important that ever, as many pop music scenes are haunted by the ghosts of their past and increasingly tend to look back at their own history. What’s even more important is the fact that in the world’s southern hemisphere, the music videos in various subcultural scenes of global pop music have evolved dynamically, something which the Goethe-Institut reports on. The Goethe-Institut has continually included music videos in its host country programmes – especially in places where local music video production is thriving, and where the local scene shows interest in advanced German pop music. And where the link between pop culture, experimental films and video art leads to exciting results.

SYNOPSIS 18 MUSIC VIDEOS

1. One Minute Soundsculpture, (Ryoji Ikeda), Daniel Franke, 2010
(1. Place MuVi 2011)

“One Minute Soundsculpture” is a virtual sculpture that is simulated in real surroundings. In the form of a video this work shows the possible positions for viewers of this sculpture and so effectively simulates the viewers themselves. By means of FFT algorithms, sound is translated into data, and can thereby influence a position at a particular point in time. A sculpture materialises and, depending on the sound, successively moves upward with organic movements. As a digital layer the digital sculpture casts shadows on and is reflected by the real surroundings. The video is to be seen as the start of a series of works that deal with the resolution of the viewing position. “One Minute Soundsculpture” thus shows how moving images can be perceived in a different way. Here such a way is still simulated.

Daniel Franke was born in 1982 in Dresden. Artist, curator and director. He studied Visual Communications and “Art and Media” at UdK Berlin. Franke lives and works in Berlin, where he is one of the co-founders and directors of the Lab for Emerging Arts (LEAP). In his works he challenges the digital and puts it in the context of a physical perception. He thereby tries to transfer practices of classical animation into concrete forms of expressions in the actual, physical world, to make complex contexts accessible.

2. Twenty One // Einundzwanzig, (Jan Roth), Martin Eichhorn/Daniel Spindler, 2013

A colourful, mixed-up chain of associations halfway between moving pictures and photography. Like the piece it is based on, it concentrates into a slowly growing texture, but skilfully avoids the eruption that it suggests is imminent.

Martin Eichhorn was born in 1979. Graduate designer. Co-founder and shareholder of the Berlin Label Sinnbus. Post-production and co-direction for numerous Sinnbus videos.

Daniel Spindler was born in 1977. College dropout. Co-founder and shareholder of the Berlin label Sinnbus.

3. Born to be King// Zum König geboren, (Marteria), Daniel Franke/Martin W. Maier, 2009 (Audience Award MuVi 2009)

Born to be king, a botched life. In a dark studio Daniel Franke and Martin W. Maier shoot the life of the self-appointed king. Palm trees turn into clocks, a pistol paves the way for a cut, not enough for suicide. The word “Njet” is pieced together from a bus door which closes. Made of paper-maché, it pushes its waythrough the backdrops, a star leads to faceless dancers. Money falls from the sky, a door points the way to a wedding. At the end not everything starts back at the beginning. The dancers now wear tailcoats, top hats and hold walking sticks. The backdrop disappears, what remains is a space poorly lit by light-bulbs.

Daniel Franke was born in 1982 in Dresden. Artist, curator and director. He studied Visual Communications and “Art and Media” at UdK Berlin. Franke lives and works in Berlin, where he is one of the co-founders and directors of the Lab for Emerging Arts (LEAP). In his works he challenges the digital and puts it in the context of a physical perception. He thereby tries to transfer practices of classical animation into concrete forms of expressions in the actual, physical world, to make complex contexts accessible.

4. Blood (Vangelis), Oliver Pietsch, 2011

In a montage of film scenes blood becomes the main protagonist of its own aesthetic drama. It flows, squirts and drips. The red colour is mixed with water, absorbed by textiles and finally conquers the whole room..

Oliver Pietsch was born 1972 in Munich. 1996-2003 Art Academy Munich / UdK Berlin. Lives and works in Berlin.

5. DOT(Michael Fakesch), Jörg Petri, 2007 (3. Place MuVi 2008)

DOT: the book as a video – is a sequence of digitally reproduced letterpress prints, produced at a typography workshop of the University of Arts in Braunschweig, Germany. The video consists of approx. 300 different screens, 300 different pages were set in lead type and printed on a 60-year-old “Korrex” proof press. The pages were collected and bound in three (almost) identical volumes. The project’s subheading refers to this coexistence of print and digital video. The DOT video is an animated book.

Jörg Petri was born in Mannheim in 1972. Apprenticeship as Schriftsetzer (typesetter) at Walter Medien, Brackenheim. Since 2000 he has worked as a freelancer in graphic design and typography. In 2003 he graduated in media computer sciences. 2005-2010 lecturer for typography on screen at the HdK Braunschweig. Since 2007 editor of “Querformat Magazin”. Since 2010 Professor for Media Production at Rhein-Waal University of Applied Sciences, Kamp-Lintfort.

6. Easy or Not (Tim Neuhaus ft. Kat Frankie), Dietrich Brüggemann, 2013 (Audience Award MuVi 2014)

Two people fight for space in one sweater. A duet by Tim Neuhaus and Kat Frankie. Frankie.

Dietrich Brüggemann was born in Munich in 1976. Grew up in Southern Germany and South Africa. Music since 1985, photography since 1989, texts since 1993, films since 1997. 2003 at the Berlinale with his short film “Warum läuft Herr V. Amok?”. 2006 with “Neun Szenen” and 2010 with “Renn, wenn du kannst”, both in the programme section Perspektive Deutsches Kino. His feature film “Kreuzweg” won the Silver Bear for Best Script and the Prize ofthe Ecumenical Jury at the Berlinale in 2014. He shoots music videos, makes panoramic photos and accompagnies silent movies on the piano.

7. Grimace Goulash// Fratzengulasch (Die Vögel), Katharina Duve/Timo Schierhorn, 2011 (2. Place and Audience Award MuVi 2012)

A panoramic group photo from the flea market is transformed into a collage by graphic means and turns into an absurd party playground. The expression “grimace goulash” comes from the techno party scene and describes the state of losing control over one’s facial muscles.

Katharina Duve is a video artist from Hamburg, working in the fields of theatre, music video and experimental film. She has collaborated with Die Vögel, Deichkind, Thomas Ebermann, geheimagentur and Felix Kubin.

Timo Schierhorn is a video artist and filmmaker from Hamburg. In 2013, documentary on the reunion tour of the band Slime. Music videos, including for Deichkind, Tocotronic, 1000 Robota, Egoexpress and Die Vögel.

8. Giddy (Pereira Elsewhere ft. Gonjasufi), Pussykrew, 2013

We wanted to create a mood, a landscape, instead of a traditional, linear video clip. The poetry of the song inevitably makes one think about an apocalyptic, post-digital, melancholy and beautiful desert. The hypnotic aura of the video is infused with transparent symbols of our present culture, drowsiness and the magic of smooth, superficial reality, imprisonment and endless freedom.

Pussykrew are a multimedia-artist-duo by Ewelina Aleksandrowicz and Andrzej Wojtas based in Berlin. Interdisciplinary practices in production of short clips, audio-visual performances, installations, sound experiments and DIY electronics. Creating gender-bending visual journeys and merging the erotic and the ethereal of sterile cinematic poetry. Pussykrew worked with, amongst others, Leila, HTRK, Raime and Oni Ayhun.

9. Graf (Lithops), Karl Kliem, 2009 (3. Place MuVi 2009)

A broken video card provides the basic material for this music video. The current political and economic situation mirrored in the web browser. Illegal downloads and movie copies on the desktop. Everything is falling apart.

Karl Kliem was born 1969 in Frankfurt on the Main, where he lives and works. Karl Kliem aka Dienststelle is known for his minimalist music visualizations. He has worked together with Mouse on Mars, Alva Noto & Ryuichi Sakamoto, Jan Jelinek, Thomas Brinkman and others.

10. The Investor// Der Investor (Die Goldenen Zitronen), Ted Gaier/Katharina Duve/Timo Schierhorn (1. Place MuVi 2014)

In humorous rhymes, the song lists the empty phrases used to sell run-down districts as trendy hotspots. In the video, an old goods platform becomes a catwalk. People of very different background present themselves in the mannered poses of models. The strict stylisation of the images engendered by the set repertoire of gestures and the camera work creates a strange contrast to the typecast, “authentic” acting of the protagonists and poses the question of what “realness” is.

Ted Gaier Co-founder of the Goldene Zitronen (since 1984) and the agitprop group Schwabinggrad Ballet (since 1999). Lyricist, composer and instrumentalist. Active since 1998 in theatre contexts as a musician, performer and in conceptual form. He works as director, music producer, author.

Katharina Duve is a video artist from Hamburg, working in the fields of theatre, music video and experimental film. She has collaborated with Die Vögel, Deichkind, Thomas Ebermann, geheimagentur and Felix Kubin.

Timo Schierhorn is a video artist and filmmaker from Hamburg. In 2013, documentary on the reunion tour of the band Slime. Music videos, including for Deichkind, Tocotronic, 1000 Robota, Egoexpress and Die Vögel.

11. There Will Be Singing (Efdemin), JUTOJO/Phillip Sollmann, 2010 (2. Place MuVi 2011)

Phillip Sollmann conceived the video from the conceptual art work of the Album “Chicago”. A camera with macro lens moves on rails over various publications on Mies van der Rohe’s building at Lake Shore Drive in Chicago. The stills are condensed to a narrative, brilliantly realised by Jutojo.

Jutojo founded in Berlin in 1998, Jutojo is a collective of the visual artists Julie Gayard, Toby Cornish and Johannes Braun, working with film, video, and projections to create large scale installations, audio-visual performances, short films and music videos. Alongside Oberhausen, their work has been shown at several festivals around the world and at London’s Barbican Centre, the Roundhouse, the Royal Opera House. Their visual and conceptual approach is usually the transformation of simple analogue visual effects into a large scale immersive experience.

Phillip Sollmann / EFDEMIN was born in Kassel in 1974. He works as a producer of electronic music in Berlin. After studying electroacoustic music at the University of Music and Performing Arts (ELAK) in Vienna, he has published works ranging from Drone to Techno on various labels since 1999 under the names Phillip Sollmann and EFDEMIN and works worldwide as a DJ. In his installations he focuses on infinite sound and spatial sensation.

12. Down (Occupanther), Johannes Brugger, 2014

A musical underdog meets a lonely woman. In the intoxication of music something big emerges of delicate transience and familiar intimacy. Great show romance on the smallest stage of the entertainment world.

Johannes Brugger was born in Munich in 1990. He discovered his passion for photography in his youth. First steps with the medium during his photography studies. Currently working as a freelance film-maker in Munich. His first music video “Down” is inspired by his time as a roadie for a cover band.

13. The Armrest// Die Seitenlehne (Lena Stoehrfaktor), Pappsatt, 2010

Restlessly through society with Lena: stay alone and lose yourself in thought or share the seat bench with nerds, cholerics and annoying kids? Equally cramped by the armrest on a reserved single seat and in the open car.

Pappsatt have been making, drawing and constructing a city from below and for everyone since 2008.. Whether it’s giant dolls for demonstrations, stage designs at the Fusion Festival or murals in Kreuzberg – the main thing is to make it yourself and to make it together.

14. Videotape (Radiohead), Wolfgang Jaiser/Claus Winter, 2008

What will be on your videotape when you are at the pearly gates? A simple question deserves a simple answer. You will see simple and crude characters without any human attitude becoming very human and emotional by adding the music of Radiohead. You will see things you never expected in life – it’s your life in flashbacks. What you will see is beauty filmed by CCTV.

Wolf Jaiser started as creative director for the lollipop company Chupa Chups before he went to Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg. He has been directing commercials and music videos for over 10 years now. He directs TAPE MODERN, a temporary art gallery in Munich and is the co-founder of VIDEOTAPE, THE MEMORY COLLECTIVE.

Claus Winter is Motion graphics designer, 3D artist and owner of ES IST WINTER, a studio for 3D animation & motion design in Nuremberg. After his studies of Communications Design at the Ohm Hochschule in Nuremberg, he has worked as a freelancer ever since.

Jaiser & Winter started their collaboration “16tracks” in 2007, bringing animation and video live sets to the stage and catwalks.

15. Lost & Found (Mouse on Mars & Eric D. Clark), Klaus Lemke, 2014 (1. Place MuVi 2015)

Some music is so full of diffidence and delicacy that you have to leave it alone. Or assail it from behind.

Klaus Lemke made 46 films after his short film “Kleine Front” (1965).

16. Think Big // Denken Sie Groß (Deichkind), Till Nowak/Timo Schierhorn/UWE, 2015 (Audience Award MuVi 2015)

The track “Think Big” is a motivational guide to megalomania. In the video a 10 year old boy gives an internet tutorial on how to make an award winning music video. Using 3D animation software, he builds a digital sculpture from archive photos of the band Deichkind. He reassembles the bands biography and sends the continuously growing entity on a world tour. World domination instead of homework.

Till Nowak graduated in Media Design at the University of Applied Science in Mainz, where he founded his own studio FrameboX.
Timo Schierhorn is a video artist and filmmaker from Hamburg. Music videos for Deichkind, Die Goldenen Zitronen and Die Vögel, amongst others.

UWE is a musician and director from Hamburg and works as a songwriter, producer and touring musician. As of 2012 he became increasingly involved with directing.

17. uni acronym (alva noto ft. Anne-James Chaton), Carsten Nicolai, 2011 (1. Place Muvi 2012)

alva noto’s new album is focussed on the conceptual differentiation of a universal language (‘universum/universal’ = unity, entirety). For the track uni acronym alva noto works again with the french voice artist Anne-James Chaton. The track and video is based on a number of 208 three-letter acronyms (set in alphabetical order) creating a random narrative.

Carsten Nicolai was born 1965 in Karl-Marx-Stadt. He is a visual artist, composer and musician. As a visual artist mainly creating objects and installations, Nicolai seeks to overcome the separation of the art forms and genres to sensitize human perception to the interconnection of the different sensory levels. For several years now Nicolai has released albums under the pseudonyms noto and alva noto which he has presented at live shows in national and international concert halls, clubs and museums. He has cooperated with renowned composers and musician including Ryuichi Sakamoto, Blixa Bargeld, Ryoji Ikeda, Michael Nyman, Mika Vainio, Olaf Bender + Frank Bretschneider (signal), as well as with diverse orchestras for modern music, such as Ensemble Modern, BCN 216 and zeitkratzer.

18. Joy// Freude (Holrich Gelken), Thomas Draschan, 2009

Eyes, weapons, apes, rockets, outer space, wind channel, breasts, galaxies to the rhythm of a sound loop and voice fragments from a physics broadcast.

Thomas Draschan, Master student Städelschule (Frankfurt/Main) 1997. Numerous films since 1992, found footage works, video clips and travel movies on film, works with video since 2006. As artist mainly working with found materials.

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