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Interview by Thomas Weski, chief curator of the Haus der Kunst Munich, on the work of Birthe Blauth (on the occasion of the award of the HausderKunst-prize in 2004).
excerpt from a speech of Dr. Dagmar Preising, Suermondt-Ludwig Museum Aachen, on the occasion of the award of the
Rotbuchen-prize in November 2005.
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| Thomas Weski, Chief Curator, Haus der Kunst Munich, talks to Birthe Blauth, winner of the HausderKunst Prize 2004). |
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| Thomas Weski: "What is special about your piece Guarded Parking, Marrakech? |
| Birthe Blauth: "Initially nothing at all. It shows an unknown square in Marrakech that could just as well be anywhere in the world. The buildings are quite normal, so are the shops, the cars, the people…there's nothing exciting going on. But after about 5 minutes the square's empty: 43 people, the cars and a host of other things have gradually disappeared. So although it sounds as though something's happening, the viewer hardly notices anything at all. He or she might register that something has disappeared but wouldn't be able to say exactly what it was. So this work's about one of the comforting beliefs we live – the illusion that we perceive our environment in its entirety. It's comforting because we normally think we perceive what's going on around us. But this work undermines that belief." |
| Thomas Weski: "So as a viewer, what do I see? Is it a photograph? A video?" |
| Birthe Blauth: "It looks like a video with a static shot. What you see is a sequence of 65 photos running off like a digital flipbook. The first picture shows the original scene; all others are derived from it by image processing." |
| TW: "So authenticity in photography is not your main interest?" |
| BB: "That's right. I'm not really interested in documenting real events. If anything in the initial picture had disturbed me, I would have taken it out. The source picture is the raw material, the starting point for my work. I select it in the same way as a sculptor selects the right material for a sculpture. I have a number of pictures I think might be good raw material, although I don't yet know what I will make from them. But I also have some ideas I've yet to find the right picture for." |
| TW: "How did this approach come about?" |
| BB: "I developed this approach at a stage when I was becoming more and more interested in subjects that
weren't suitable for pictorial or graphic work. So I began to look for new tools. I experimented with processing photographs and complemented photos with digitally created drawings, always working towards a final picture as though I was painting. But digital media offer far more possibilities: for example, I can make countless copies of a source picture and then develop it either as a sequence that moves in a certain direction, or in a number of other different ways. That suits perfectly me at the moment." |
TW: "Would it be right to say that your work has two poles? The search for pictures and new forms of expression on the one hand, and the discussion of perception on the other?" |
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| BB: "Yes, you could say that. This discussion is what prompts the search for pictures and new forms of expression. Originally I studied cultural sciences and only came into the arts much later in life, but as a student I did a lot of work iconology and mythology. That was how my interest in perception psychology and the latest brain research came about. And that's the basis I develop my work from." |
| TW. "And what are you working on at the moment?" |
| BB "On a highway journey as seen from the front passenger seat. The viewer feels as though he's riding in the car, because he can watch the trees, power lines and signs pass the window. But at the same time he notices he's not making any progress at all." |
| TW: Well then, good luck and have a good journey!" |
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| Guarded Parking, Marrakesh (the work discussed in this interview) |
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| Excerpt from a speech held at the Rotbuchen Awards Ceremony in November 2005 by Dr. Dagmar Preising of the Suermondt-Ludwig Museum Aachen. |
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Second prize goes to the video artist Birthe Blauth from Munich for Poppyfield, her multi-layered video work.
For Birthe Blauth, colour photography provides the starting point for her creations. However, rather than hanging her photographs sequentially along a wall, she cross-fades them into each other to produce video films. The change process is observed not by moving past individual photographs but by watching the images themselves move. Natural beauty can be experienced through artistic beauty. It is preserved in artistic beauty. And that, in my view, is her message.
Poppyfield begins with a single surface divided by colour which could be read as representing a field and sky. The yellow of the lower section gradually becomes darker. Once ochre, it slowly transforms into a flowering poppyfield under a light blue sky. Rather than changing into an autumnal scene, as the viewer might expect, the red poppies become blurred, turning into red spots of colour and lines. The flecks of colour become broader and broader until they dominate the scene. Finally, a single red brushstroke covers the artificial structure completely. The red surface the changes colour again, turning ochre and blue and we're back to where we started.
Nature's beauty, the spring-like flower meadow, is transformed into a virtual painting - virtual because it is no longer paintbrushes, colour and canvas that stand for the transformation of nature through art, but the camera, video and CD technology. These things can now represent the art of painting and transform it to another medium. With that, painting is no longer the victor every time in the age-old rivalry between the arts.
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see the work "Poppyfield" |
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