Stefanie Schneider, Aline Bouvy/John Gillis
First Glance
7 June – 12 July, 2003
First Glance
7 June – 12 July, 2003
The first exhibition at the KUTTNER SIEBERT Gallery introduces two artistic positions: Belgian artists Aline Bouvy and John Gillis present their video productions for the first time in Berlin, and Stefanie Schneider a new series of photographs. 'First Glance' - the initial brief look, representing a significant moment in the examination of the works - an impression that steadily changes with the exhibited pieces.
In their short videos, Aline Bouvy and John Gillis show a specific sequence out of limited plots. They refer to those significant, cinematic subjects - passion and violence.
_Unreleased (Shooting)' (2002), an animated flow of hundreds of water-colour paintings, is dedicated to a serious theme: Wounds and Trauma. A female body appears on a light background, turning slowly. The initial, naïve association with dance quickly disappears as a small red spot on the clothes begins to grow, the T-shirt is saturated and the body falls with a reeling movement. The fine line between the playful levity of the execution and the brutality of the content is irritating, and yet it allows the performance to distance itself from any kind of pathos and sentimentality.
The animated video 'Unreleased (Kiss)' (2001) refers to the impossibility of fulfilling our desires and expectations. For the viewer, the only thing visible is a kissing figure. Missing is the corresponding response to this action, as the counterpart remains invisible.
Stefanie Schneider's twelve piece presentation 'Gestures' (2003) brings us variations on a simple gesture: a hand protecting the eyes from the sun, the same hand apparently parting the hair, the same hand resting on the brow in a moment of seeming exhaustion, and so on. The camera circles the young lady shot by shot, quite suddenly drawing away and then gradually looking for proximity again. As a result, the pictures acquire a dynamic quality which is inevitably associated with a dramatisation. However, the in-put is too vague and the staging too lacking to give the viewer any chance of drawing a definite conclusion as to the plot. On another level, it is the abstract, paint-like images that increase the current of imprecision. Like a veil, changing drops of colour extend over the actual portrayal. Stefanie Schneider achieves this strange, paint-like effect by making substantial changes to original Polaroid material.
In their short videos, Aline Bouvy and John Gillis show a specific sequence out of limited plots. They refer to those significant, cinematic subjects - passion and violence.
_Unreleased (Shooting)' (2002), an animated flow of hundreds of water-colour paintings, is dedicated to a serious theme: Wounds and Trauma. A female body appears on a light background, turning slowly. The initial, naïve association with dance quickly disappears as a small red spot on the clothes begins to grow, the T-shirt is saturated and the body falls with a reeling movement. The fine line between the playful levity of the execution and the brutality of the content is irritating, and yet it allows the performance to distance itself from any kind of pathos and sentimentality.
The animated video 'Unreleased (Kiss)' (2001) refers to the impossibility of fulfilling our desires and expectations. For the viewer, the only thing visible is a kissing figure. Missing is the corresponding response to this action, as the counterpart remains invisible.
Stefanie Schneider's twelve piece presentation 'Gestures' (2003) brings us variations on a simple gesture: a hand protecting the eyes from the sun, the same hand apparently parting the hair, the same hand resting on the brow in a moment of seeming exhaustion, and so on. The camera circles the young lady shot by shot, quite suddenly drawing away and then gradually looking for proximity again. As a result, the pictures acquire a dynamic quality which is inevitably associated with a dramatisation. However, the in-put is too vague and the staging too lacking to give the viewer any chance of drawing a definite conclusion as to the plot. On another level, it is the abstract, paint-like images that increase the current of imprecision. Like a veil, changing drops of colour extend over the actual portrayal. Stefanie Schneider achieves this strange, paint-like effect by making substantial changes to original Polaroid material.