IMAGINARY IS POTENTIAL


Film and video screening featuring
LA and Berlin based artists:

Matthew Burbidge/Rufus Kraus
Ulrike Feser/Silvan Linden/Wolfgang Stahr
Marie Jager
Deborah Ligorio
Jacob Melchi
Anca Munteanu
Arthur Ou
Nicole Quaid

Curated by Henrikke Nielsen


Presented by Sparwasser HQ - at Z-bar, Bergstrasse 2, Berlin Mitte - Wednesday May 5. 2004 at 9pm

"L'imagination au pouvoir" (all power to imagination) was one of the most frequently used graffiti-slogans in the revolution of May 1968. The pieces presented in this screening are sympathetic to the idea. In opposition to the documentary and realist video-works of the past decade, all are strikingly staged, engaging animation, special effects, and an overall partiality for the narrative and the fictional. This does not, however, result in the aping of Hollywood big budget movies or MTV aesthetics. Rather, homemade effects, the use of "retro-technology"(High 8), and an appropriation of the silent movie (although realized on 16-mm film) characterize these pieces. Jager's "R.U.R" is a science fiction piece, based on a novel by Karel Capek. Whereas Melchi's point of departure in "Stories For Projection" is everyday observations, from which fantastic stories evolve and combine with abstract animation. In "Installation 07-01," Kraus and Burbidge undertake the seemingly heroic act of installing a Rosalind Krauss-quotation. The qualities of "Installation 07-01"'s High-8 recording and soundtrack echo a time when imaginative activism was regarded as potential.

For further information, please contact Henrikke Nielsen: henrikkenielsen@hotmail.com