Friday, December 17th, 2010, 24:00 | 12 p.m.
BABYLON, Rosa-Luxemburgplatz, Berlin, big cinema hall
(Eintritt frei | admission free)
BABYLON, Rosa-Luxemburgplatz, Berlin, big cinema hall
(Eintritt frei | admission free)
»From Here to Eternity«, 2010, 40 min, first release
Developed through filmic montage, Oliver Pietsch’s films are marked by a solid archival testimony to cinematic and audiovisual culture. From old films to more recent ones, from documentary to independent cinema through to Hollywood block-busters, the artist plays around with fictional re-interpretations, intrinsically creating a new narrative. The themes of these montages often take on an obscure exploration of human emotions and psychological torments. There is no discourse or critical posture: the artist offers a dreamlike space where each one is free to navigate in his own way, and leaving his own feelings and narrations emerge.
Pietsch’s latest film “From Here to Eternity” explores the theme of death in the history of cinema; the artist addresses with a hint of humour the idea of immortality interpreted by actors through the course of time. The film is composed of three chapters inviting the viewer to step into a mental wandering, and provoking feelings of recognition and empathy that ultimately lead to narrative re-interpretations rooted in our personal concerns. While the first chapter centres on the physical implications of death such as the “last breath” and other inflicted and external violence, the second chapter explores a much more introspective and contemplative side devoted to the fear of death and the irrepressible emotions associated with it. The third and final chapter however naturally progresses to explore the notions relating to the realm of the afterlife and the metaphorical visions of heaven, hell and any intermediary state.
Pietsch’s poetic approach to this universal subject is emphasized by his choice of the final voice-over in the film which suggests to think of death as “a dream from which you would never again wake up”.
Oliver Pietsch was born in 1972 in Germany. He lives and works in Berlin.
Exhibitions include, Underdox Festival, Munich, Germany (2010); “No Matter. Try Again. Fail Again. Fail Better.”, Scheitern, Kunst und Wissen, Kunstverein Hildesheim, Germany (2010), NIFFF, Neuchâtel International Fantastic Film Festival, Switzerland (2010); “Pietsch Week”, Goff+Rosenthal, New York (2009) (SOLO SHOW); Nuit Blanche, Paris (2009); TIFF, Int. Film Festival, Toronto, Canada (2009), La Nuit du Court, Brussels (2009); Mostra Internationale Del Nuovo Cinema, Pesaro, Italy (2008).
