Winterzauber, "Winter Magic"

More info from the artist's website: http://www.p-geist.de/start.html

Multimedia art in Zurich: A restaurant is turned into a work of art

english version (translation Julie Draper)
Zurich, 11.27.2005

Beginning at sundown from 11.27 through 12.31.2005, the historically protected building housing the Lake Side Restaurant in Zurich will be transformed into a 450 sqm. three-dimensional video art installation.

It is the work of Berlin-based multimedia artist Philipp Geist, a rising star in the young art scene. Together with the symphony orchestra OBC Barcelona and the Finnish sound ensemble Pan Sonic, Philipp Geist appeared as a video artist at the opening of the Sonar Festival in Barcelona in 2004. He was represented at the Dissonanze Festival in Rome, at Clubtransmediale in Berlin and at the Mutek Festival in Montreal which is renowned for new media. His video works have been exhibited at important international art institutions including the Central House of Artists (CHA) in Moscow, the Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) in London, the National Gallery in Warsaw (Zacheta), at the opening of the Pinakothek der Moderne in Munich – and now for the first time in switzerland.

For his work in Zurich, the 29 year-old Berlin-based artist deliberately avoids the use of canvases and instead projects directly onto the concrete building façades and windows which have been prepared with a special projection foil. Every evening, visitors can expect to see a selection of images alternating between purist, dreamlike and intangibly fragile compositions. The starting foundation for all of Philipp Geist’s work is video material solely filmed and produced by himself. Geist finds the subjects for his work in everyday things like hairbrushes, leaves, raindrops and curtains. He releases these objects from their usual setting and places them in new visual and correlated contexts by employing special camera and video techniques using motion blur and superimposition.

Especially for Winterzauber (Winter Magic) in Lake Side, Philipp Geist went in search of wintry, Christmasy motifs which attempt to break the link to consumption and indulgence, and instead direct visitors’ attention toward the pure aesthetic component that is all too often obscured by the kitschy madness of Christmas.

It is in this way that a ride along the highly commercialized Oxford Street in London takes on a completely new appearance as it is seen through a window pane. Distorted by the raindrops at night, it allows viewers only a vague impression of the twinkling Christmas lights. Microscopic close-ups give sparklers, burned down candles and snowflakes an element of diversity that would have remained unappreciated by the human eye without the aid of technology.

By opting to use the three-dimensional, defined structure contours as projection surfaces instead of canvases, Geist increases the motifs’ abstraction while simultaneously regaining depth and diversity. In this way, Geist initiates a dialogue between the historically protected architecture, his artistic work and the people going in and out of the structure: The visitor himself becomes part of the projected image on the threshold between the inside and outside of the building.

Geist allows a wintry world to emerge in front of visitors’ eyes. The subject matter and motifs, although familiar, astonish with their size and unusual presentation while altering the observer’s perception and challenging conventional viewing habits.

Given that the opening of Geist’s work will coincide with the first day of Advent, it will be intriguing to see how he uses his playful, artistic interpretation to approach winter and Christmas themes. One thing is for certain: Visitors will be able to immerse themselves in a tranquil, wintry, dreamlike world of lights.

"Winterzauber" 2005 at Lake Side
Videoart installation by Philipp Geist
open daily from 11.27 - 12.30.05, 6:00 pm – 12 am
12.31.05, 6:00 pm – 5:00 am

Yes Wumpus, it is, technically difficult to say that the film is specifically anti-Muslim as you have pointed out it takes place before Islam was even a twinkle in Mohammed's eye...

But you have to keep in mind that this "clash of cultures", this East vs West grudge match, has been a long standing issue, one that keeps playing out over the last three millennia with different peoples, religions, and political entities replaying the same mistakes of our ancestors over and over and over again. That the film is technically about "Persians" (who were by definition the elite people of the Persian Empire, which was an amalgamation of Eastern peoples (as you well know)), is just a detail when looked at as an overall history of conflict... just because the film is not literally Spartans vs. Muslims, or Iranians, it's pretty explicit that these cinema Persians, are the ancestors of the axis-of-evil headliners.

Given that fact that we are currently in the grips of another cycle of this age-old conflict, it is understandable that the Iranians feel they are the target of a hollywood style smear campaign. Having seen the film, I can only say that they have every reason to be pissed, the more I think about it the more I realize that the overall tone of this film aimed to reiterate this this cultural conflict by appropriating history.

That is one of the reasons that chuckle-head at :31 pisses me off so much. People need to start realizing just how much of an impact the respresentation of history has on current political/cultural affairs.

If you need more evidence of this fact and similar controversies, I suggest you look into the current problems between Greece and Macedonia over who has the 'right' to actually be called 'Macedonians', or the various problems in identifying cannibalism at archaeological sites, especially those in the American Southwest. The portrayal of ancient peoples and cultures does have a direct bearing on current attitudes, and one cannot simply write this film off as a good bit of bloody fun.

Comment hidden because you are ignoring dag. (show it anyway)

This movie really stands the test of time. I think the special effects are still more realistic than most recent space movies. The starkness of the lighting on the exterior shots, the lack of bright twinkling stars - the absence of sound ...

Kubrick was amazing.