Müssiggang

http://www.d-e-s-a-s-t-e-r.ch

--- Präsentationshinweise  DE:

Der  Videoparcour fand vom 20.05 bis zum 21.06. 2015  zwischen 9 bis 24 Uhr statt. videocity.bs hat neue Wege des  Miteinanders von Kultur und Geschäftswelt erschlossen. 16 Geschäfte und kulturelle Institutionen öffnen für 27  Videokünstler*innen  ihre Schaufenster, Hallen  oder elektronischen Werbetafeln. Sie bilden einen Parcours zwischen Messeplatz, Marktplatz,  Aeschenvorstadt  und St. Jakobsstadion. Die Videos lassen den Alltag in neuem Licht erscheinen und umgekehrt der Alltag die Videos. videovity.bs wird einen Monat lang  zum immateriellen Bestandteil der Stadt und regt zu unerwarteten  Begegnungen an.

Es gab dabei folgende Stadtionen:  Congress Center Basel/eBoard, Kulturbüro Basel, Elektrohaus Boner, Basler Lädeli, GLOBUS, Banque CIC (Suisse) AG, Claudia Güdel, Confiserie Bachmann, Nationale Suisse, Der Teufelhof Basel, Stadtcasino,  Theater Basel, Basler Kantonalbank, Kunsthaus  Baselland, und St. Jakobsturm

Die teilnehmenden Künstler*innen waren: Dominik Stauch, Pipilotti Rist, Ursula Palla, Yves Netzhammer, Franziska Megert, Christian Jankowski, Tom Huber, Michael Spahr, HEAD, Mathis Vass, Jeannette Ehlers, Diana Dodson, Hildegard Spielhofer, Thomas Kneubühler, Manuel Szabo.  

--- Presentation notes EN: 

The Videoparcour took place from 20.05 to 21.06.2015 between 9 a.m. and midnight. videocity.bs has opened up new ways of interaction between culture and the business world. 16 shops and cultural institutions open their shop windows, halls or electronic billboards for 27 video artists. They form a parcour between Messeplatz, Marktplatz, Aeschenvorstadt and St. Jakobsstadion. The videos present everyday life in a new light and vice versa. For one month videocity.bs becomes an immaterial part of the city and encourages unexpected encounters.

The following institutions were part in the project:  Congress Center Basel/eBoard, Kulturbüro Basel, Elektrohaus Boner, Basler Lädeli, GLOBUS, Banque CIC (Suisse) AG, Claudia Güdel, Confiserie Bachmann, Nationale Suisse, Der Teufelhof Basel, Stadtcasino, Theater Basel, Basler Kantonalbank, Kunsthaus Baselland, St. Jakobsturm. 

The participating artists were: Dominik Stauch, Pipilotti Rist, Ursula Palla, Yves Netzhammer, Franziska Megert, Christian Jankowski, Tom Huber, Michael Spahr, HEAD, Mathis Vass, Jeannette Ehlers, Diana Dodson, Hildegard Spielhofer, Thomas Kneubühler, Manuel Szabo.    

The video image is split in two haves, like a diptych that is seen in art. It shows two separate dark recordings of an earthy undergrowth passing before the camera. At first it seems both images are converging on a single vanishing point. Eventually it becomes clear that the videos are drifting apart. The artist Tom Huber’s comments on his work in a poetic way: „We always travelled the same road, without ever touching like two parallel lines.“ The title "Müssiggang", a German word for 'Idleness', suggest an idle walk through nature. The camera’s motion is not smooth however, but rather moves falteringly, full of jumping irregularities. This camerawork suggest an unsteady footing on uneven ground. The tone of the piece is ambivalent, an be interpreted both as soothing or disturbing. Either as a peaceful center or as something dark and mysterious. Whether the split screen of "Müssiggang" signifies temporally separate walks within the same landscape of a single individual, the view of two different people or a split mind remains an enigma.

Tyrone Richards