One day I saw a video installation by Gernot Wieland in a Berlin gallery. It was a rainy day, and when I stumbled into the darkened hall, there were only a few people sitting in the room, which smelled of warm, damp jackets and carpet. I was completely absorbed by what I was seeing, forgetting everything around me. I was sucked into noisy super-eight shots, into an eerily sympathetic off-screen voice and – crucially – into the thoughts of a strange mind, full of imaginative and humorous depth. Add to this unusually poetic directness full of (self-)irony and striking cleverness, powers of observation and nostalgia. Rarely has autofiction struck me with such success. So I was all the more delighted to discover that you can see two more of Wieland’s films next Thursday (17.08.2023). Together with the Kultursommerfestival, Mobile Kino and Jung und Artig, the museum’s young patrons’ association, the Berlinische Galerie is hosting an evening of open-air cinema free of charge.
The evening begins with drinks and music, followed by an artist talk with Wieland and Thomas Köhler, the director of the museum. Afterwards, two works – “Thievery and Songs” (22 min) and “Ink in Milk” (23 min) – will be shown. There are interlocking narrative threads, kneaded figures, figurative drawings, recorded performances, performative splinters and fragmented photographs. It’s about Austria (Wieland’s country of origin) and Mumbai. About post-war art and Catholicism, about memory, reflection and absurdity. And about a rarely moving, shared pleasure: about the magic of inspiration that comes from experiencing art together. It’s something not to be missed.
Text: Hilka Dirks / Credit: Gernot Wieland, Ink in Milk / Photos: Anna Tiessen, Pauline Ruther
Berlinische Galerie, Alte Jakobstr.124-128, 10969 Berlin–Kreuzberg, map
Artist talk and screening with music and drinks, 17.08.203 from 19h30
20h30 Artist Talk with Gernot Wieland and Thomas Köhler.
21h15 Screening of “Thievery and Songs” and “Ink in Milk”.
@jungundartig_berlin
@berlinischegalerie
@gernot.wieland
@kultursommerfestival.berlin
