ART & CULTURE DOCUMENTARIES THAT LET YOU SEE YOURSELF DIFFERENTLY IN THE WORLD
Climate art is booming. Saving the planet is the big theme of biennials and art museums. At the same time, the cultural industry with international events is itself producing lots of Co2. What is the task of art in times of climate change? A contribution by Frauke Schlieckau for 3Sat Kulturzeit.
With more than 20 million albums sold, Herbert Grönemeyer is considered the most successful German musician of all time.
For ARTE, this is an occasion to honor the work of this exceptional talent with the documentary “Mensch.Herbert“, which picks out special highlights from the various decades and areas of his career and fans them out kaleidoscopically. The result is a mixture of film and multiple video installation in a post-industrial look. The film enables the audience to get unusually close to Germany’s model musicians, especially through the close interweaving of archive material and detailed, very personal statements by Grönemeyer. The film can now also be seen in the Arte media library.
Documentation 2016, directed by Hannes Rossacher with the collaboration of Frauke Schlieckau. A production by Kobalt Productions.
Caspar David Friedrich is a monumental artist, a wanderer between different worlds, between past and present. His works speak of feelings that each of us knows, tell of longing, loneliness, being abandoned. The painter’s paintings are pervaded by a melancholy that serves as his cloak. A cloak in which he wraps the person to make the experience of loneliness and the knowledge of death more bearable. Friedrich found this feeling in himself. The early Romanticist held the opinion that a painter should not paint what he sees before him, but what he sees in himself. A resolution he pursued relentlessly and implemented consistently. This enabled him to capture a universal experience on canvas: The inevitability of knowing that we enter the world alone and leave alone. This is precisely why Caspar David Friedrich’s work is so timeless.
Director: Nicola Graef / Frauke Schlieckau, a Lona Media production
For years the star choreographer Jérôme Bel jetted around the globe. But this is over now. The Frenchman no longer flies: for the sake of the climate. He is rehearsing the US version of his latest piece “Isadora Duncan” with dancer Catherine Gallant via Skype. Despite a six-hour time difference between Paris and New York and a poor online connection.
Climate art is booming. The saving of the planet is the big theme of the biennials and art museums. Climate political art á la Olafur Eliasson’s “Iceberg melts before our eyes” is a strong picture and morally on the right side. But in many cases also “folkloric kitsch” (Harald Weltzer). And sometimes even simply bigoted: because the international art scene with its biennials and fairs is an unparalleled CO2 catapult. What is the task of art in climate change? Shaking up at any price – as do the artistic forms of action of Exctinction Rebellion? Or rather think more modestly and reduce your own CO2 footprint – with less and different art. The documentary explores this question. A production by Kobalt Productions
Contemporary art has a difficult time. “Aloof”, “absurd”, “incomprehensible” – many think so and leave the discourse to intellectuals. Yet anyone could understand art if only one more language were to establish itself: that of emotions. This is the opinion of Nicola Graef, curator of the exhibition “Feelings” at Munich’s Pinakothek der Moderne, artist Alexandra Ranner, and neuroscientist Hannah Monyer.
Outside view: idyllic postcard motif. Behind the scenes, an alternative network of artists opens its doors. The Heidelberg Castle is one of the most popular sights in Germany. Heidelberg’s dollhouse-like Old Town has become a romantic destination of yearning. But what does it look like apart from the well-known clichés? “Metropolis” visits the city on the Neckar River and talks to hiphop legend Toni L., publisher Manfred Metzner and artist Cholud Kassem.
Jérôme Bel is one of the stars of the international dance scene. His pieces are shown all over the world, from Australia to Thailand to America. For years, the Frenchman did travel around the world with his dancers, but that is all over now. Jerome Bel doesn’t fly anymore, for the sake of the climate. For Arte Metropolis, Frauke Schlieckau visited the choreographer in Paris and talked to him about the impact his climate activism has on his art.
The Heidelberg Castle is the most popular sightseeing spot in Germany and attracts countless of visitors to the Neckar Valley every year. Thanks to its picturesque ruins and a doll’s house like old town, Heidelberg has become a romantic destination in our minds. A city as a postcard idyll. But what about the cultural scene apart from the well-known clichés? For Arte Metropolis Frauke Schlieckau visits Heidelberg and talks to the German hiphop legend Toni L. from Advanced Chemistry, the publisher Manfred Metzner and the artist Cholud Kassem to find out.
Contemporary art has a hard time. “Awesome”, “absurd”, “incomprehensible”, many people think so and leave the discourse to the intellectual upper class. Yet anyone could understand art – if only one more language would establish itself: That of emotions. At least that’s the opinion of Bernhard Schwenk and Nicola Graef, the curators of the exhibition “Feelings” in Munich’s Pinakothek der Moderne. For Arte Metropolis, Frauke Schlieckau traces the role that emotions play in art and meets the artists Ruprecht von Kaufmann and Alexandra Ranner in their studios.