The world within - screening program
9 July, 2009, Stedefreund, Berlin
15 October, Museum of the city of Skopje, Skopje
Artists: Yane Calovski |Zaneta Vangeli | Hristina Ivanoska | Igor Toshevski | Berit Hummel
Duration total: 51:00 min
Program:
1. “Realkunst” by Zaneta Vangeli
Country of production: Macedonia
Year of production: 2003
Duration: 10:50 min
This video, which is fully composed of ready-made documentary footage provided by the Macedonian Television and the private video studio “Fabrika”, is dedicated to the NATO operation in Macedonia in August 2001 called “Essential Harvest”. “Essential Harvest” was a complex, expensive and above all, an extremely media-oriented operation of over 3500 NATO soldiers, who had a “peace keeping” mission to stabilize the post-conflict Macedonia of 2001 through the collection, categorization and complete destruction of all kinds of conventional weapons and ammunition. After the 30-day action there were app. 3000 peaces of weapons collected, mostly older or even antique models. The approximate number of illegal weapons in the country during that period was estimated to be over 100.000 pieces. “Realkunst, or Essential Harvest” is beyond any comment or criticism of the situation in the country. Its main focus is on the constitutive level of a curious observer. The process of making this video is anticipated at the very beginning through the self-referential text: “Selection as an act of constitution”.
2. “Untitled Utopia – The dancer” by Berit Hummel
Country of production: Germany
Year of Production: 2007
Duration: 5:43 min
In her video, Berit Hummel condenses the built visions of a city, historic monuments to state ideologies. Beacons of hope. Prestige architecture. Ruins. Through the medium of film, Hummel superimposes spaces, light conditions, movement and sound. With both the real and the staged, she employs precisely those moments that make up a utopia. The pictures tell of a change of light, from the darkening of day to a white-illuminated night. In search of light, a young woman in a white ballerina costume dances through interior spaces of monumental architecture. The choreography suggests a rehearsal, recording again and again the positions and sequences of classical ballet. Moments of the nearness of the body to the interior, which does not appear to know human measures, direct the attention to lapidified ideologies. Through her tentative movements, the dancer explores spaces that reflect the inner state of a former utopian societal ideal.
3. “Hollow Land” by Yane Calovski
Country of production: The Netherlands
Year of Production: 2009
Duration: 08:13 min
I will try to talk to you about
The different reasons
Why I come here time after time
What brings me back
What remains unfinished
In a place that does not exist in memories
4. “Naming of the bridge: Nakie Bajram and Rosa Plaveva” by Hristina Ivanoska
Country of production: Macedonia
Year of Production: 2006
Duration: 12:39 min
This work focuses on the first women protestors against the veil in Macedonia: the Macedonian Rosa Plaveva and the Turkish Nakie Bajram. The video is a part of the political initiative of its author to name a newly build bridge in Skopje after the two women who protested there together. The underline of the video is the urgent need to re-establish the diminishing communication between the parts of Skopje stretching on the opposite banks of the river Vardar. This on-going research project aims to deal with the issue of the veil unburdened by the traditional conflicts between the orthodox Christianity and Islam. It is an example how a civic political initiative (although unsuccessful) can turn in to an art project and thus still spread awareness of the given problem.
5. “Cruising or stories of nothingness..." by Igor Toshevski
Country of production: Macedonia
Year of Production: 2008
Duration: 15:00 min
Four friends/ artists get their kicks by cruising the city at night and leading a series of seemingly unrelated conversations. Trapped in the claustrophobic interior of the car, they attempt to explicate their contradicting society which appears to be deteriorating before their eyes.
Duration total: 51:00 min
Program:
1. “Realkunst” by Zaneta Vangeli
Country of production: Macedonia
Year of production: 2003
Duration: 10:50 min
This video, which is fully composed of ready-made documentary footage provided by the Macedonian Television and the private video studio “Fabrika”, is dedicated to the NATO operation in Macedonia in August 2001 called “Essential Harvest”. “Essential Harvest” was a complex, expensive and above all, an extremely media-oriented operation of over 3500 NATO soldiers, who had a “peace keeping” mission to stabilize the post-conflict Macedonia of 2001 through the collection, categorization and complete destruction of all kinds of conventional weapons and ammunition. After the 30-day action there were app. 3000 peaces of weapons collected, mostly older or even antique models. The approximate number of illegal weapons in the country during that period was estimated to be over 100.000 pieces. “Realkunst, or Essential Harvest” is beyond any comment or criticism of the situation in the country. Its main focus is on the constitutive level of a curious observer. The process of making this video is anticipated at the very beginning through the self-referential text: “Selection as an act of constitution”.
2. “Untitled Utopia – The dancer” by Berit Hummel
Country of production: Germany
Year of Production: 2007
Duration: 5:43 min
In her video, Berit Hummel condenses the built visions of a city, historic monuments to state ideologies. Beacons of hope. Prestige architecture. Ruins. Through the medium of film, Hummel superimposes spaces, light conditions, movement and sound. With both the real and the staged, she employs precisely those moments that make up a utopia. The pictures tell of a change of light, from the darkening of day to a white-illuminated night. In search of light, a young woman in a white ballerina costume dances through interior spaces of monumental architecture. The choreography suggests a rehearsal, recording again and again the positions and sequences of classical ballet. Moments of the nearness of the body to the interior, which does not appear to know human measures, direct the attention to lapidified ideologies. Through her tentative movements, the dancer explores spaces that reflect the inner state of a former utopian societal ideal.
3. “Hollow Land” by Yane Calovski
Country of production: The Netherlands
Year of Production: 2009
Duration: 08:13 min
I will try to talk to you about
The different reasons
Why I come here time after time
What brings me back
What remains unfinished
In a place that does not exist in memories
4. “Naming of the bridge: Nakie Bajram and Rosa Plaveva” by Hristina Ivanoska
Country of production: Macedonia
Year of Production: 2006
Duration: 12:39 min
This work focuses on the first women protestors against the veil in Macedonia: the Macedonian Rosa Plaveva and the Turkish Nakie Bajram. The video is a part of the political initiative of its author to name a newly build bridge in Skopje after the two women who protested there together. The underline of the video is the urgent need to re-establish the diminishing communication between the parts of Skopje stretching on the opposite banks of the river Vardar. This on-going research project aims to deal with the issue of the veil unburdened by the traditional conflicts between the orthodox Christianity and Islam. It is an example how a civic political initiative (although unsuccessful) can turn in to an art project and thus still spread awareness of the given problem.
5. “Cruising or stories of nothingness..." by Igor Toshevski
Country of production: Macedonia
Year of Production: 2008
Duration: 15:00 min
Four friends/ artists get their kicks by cruising the city at night and leading a series of seemingly unrelated conversations. Trapped in the claustrophobic interior of the car, they attempt to explicate their contradicting society which appears to be deteriorating before their eyes.