Tuesday to Sunday
10 am to 6 pm
05.11.2014
Scan Scroll Surf
Work with found material has long been ascribed an (ideological) and critical function. From found footage films to appropriation and recombinant art, bringing to light hidden subtexts and thus what might be called a kind of ideological foundation of the (film) image has always been considered an important aspect. In this respect more recent approaches in the digital area go one step further – they are aimed at constructing completely new connections of meaning outside the established semantics of the appropriated material. Jesse McLean can be regarded as one of the pioneers of this trend: operating mainly with adopted found materials, she extracts interrelations from them at a higher level. At times these are extremely erratic and while they are inherently and thoroughly bound up with the medium, they also take on a kind of ‘beyond the media’ character. This spectre-like quality can also be found in the work of Josh Kline. He has a rock star who met an early death speak to us from a digital Hades. Johann Lurf and Norbert Pfaffenbichler are apparently closer to classic film territory: the former in that he compresses the logos of the great Hollywood studio into a ballet électronique, the latter in that he subjects one of the most famous scenes in film history to a liberating re-enactment.
Johann Lurf, Twelve Tales Told, 2014, 4 min
Jesse McLean, Magic for Beginners, 2010, 21 min
Melanie Gilligan, 4 x exchange / abstraction: section 4, 2013, 2 min
Josh Kline, Forever 27 (Kurt), 2013, 15 min
Jesse McLean, Remote, 2011, 11 min
Norbert Pfaffenbichler, Odessa Crash Test (Notes on Film 09), 2014, 6 min
Jesse McLean, The Invisible World, 2012, 20 min
Followed by a conversation with Jesse McLean and Christian Höller.
Jesse McLean lives in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, USA. Exhibitions/Festivals (selection): Flaherty Seminar (invited artist), New York (2014); Internationale Kurzfilmtage Oberhausen (FIPRESCI Prize, 2014); International Film Festival Rotterdam (2012, 2013).
Christian Höller lives in Vienna. He is an author, curator and co-editor of springerin magazine.