“The point of departure for the film was provided by an interview with a well-known professor of fine arts about his genius-centered perspective on the process of artistic creation:
’If, on waking up tomorrow morning, I find that all birds chirping in front of my window have disappeared, then I would like to be so far advanced in my capabilities as an artist that I will no longer need all this, no longer miss all this. That we will finally be able to create all this by ourselves.’ I found this immensely inspiring, and accordingly a few days later me and my studio neighbour Andreas Siekmann set to work: For a start we decided to put the foliage back on a small ivy bush… Over 100 minutes, uncut and in real time, the creative process is documented in a meditative image of a slow, laborious change. Purportedly documentary, the film has in fact been played backwards. All movements appear laboured, dim, sluggish. The effort of humble creation is there for all to see; the hybris of an unreflecting cult of genius is made manifest.“
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In collaboration with Andreas Siekmann Video, 100 min., Düsseldorf, 1990 |