Video documentation of the installation in Manifesta 4, Frankfurter Kunstverein, 2002. Fragments, 6'.
The videoinstallation "Unrendered" documents the ordinary everyday situation of individuals waiting at the "Meeting-Point" in the Zurich main train station. The images are projected onto two adjacent walls and prompt the visitor to study, compare, and analyse the behavior of the people waiting: extroverted scanning of the surroundings, introverted reading, just hanging around, nervously smoking… There is no communication between the “actors”. Hardly anybody seems to care about the high "meeting-potential" of the site.
The set-up of the installation establishes interaction between the protagonists of the video images. The empty space between the two walls is filled with gazes and gestures as symbols and metaphors of communication. The transitory and uncontrolled situation of overcrowded, open public spaces is captured and translocated into the closed system of a laboratory-like setting, where the unrendered, footage becomes an object of controlled observation. Through the screening of the public space as a visual fiction, the usually closed gallery space is itself opened to the public and becomes an experience as a meeting point for the visitors. The juxtaposition of both spaces confronts and alters the qualities of the two completely different locations – different in terms of their urban setting, their architecture, social function and their meaning.
This project was made possible through the support of the Zuger Kulturstiftung Landes & Gyr. Special thanks to Egli Film & Video, Zurich.
Installation views Manifesta 4, Frankfurter Kunstverein, Frankfurt/Main 2002. Photo: Bernd Bodtländer; Unrendered, ATA Center/ Institute of Contemporary Art, Sofia 2004. Photo: Dimitar Dilkov
