Wolfgang Oelze

2003/2008 | 4:3 PAL, single channel installation, stereo, loop | 00:37:00
On the wall opposing the entrance of the room there is mounted a surveillance-monitor that is switched off. It shows a cooling-shelf. By irradiation of the ground-glass plate for many years a permanent picture got burned in the screen. A second identical monitor model is mounted vis-à-vis to the first one on the other side of the room, above the display window. This monitor plays sequences of newscast during a period of war reporting and also shows a reflection of the bright exhibition room.
In this compilation, again deserted rooms, destroyed material and outside areas are shown. For example, the cave of Bin Laden, bombed-out houses or landscapes transformed by war. A specifically large category here is the emission of smoke and dust.
A new version of the video has been produced 2008 on occasion of a TV telecast curated by the Edith Russ House for Media Art, Oldenburg. Though the collection of scenes has stopped at some point, the pictures retain a timeless place in todays reception of newscast. Therefore, the speed of the scenes has been slightly altered to reflect the echo that they have generated in memory.

Exhibition view from “Home Front”, 2003, with Baldur Burwitz, at Taubenstrasse 13, Hamburg. “The exhibition ‘Home Front’ shows two surveillance monitors, a hole and how to perform an asymmetric attack.“ (exhibition announcement)