Swiss filmmaker Peter Liechti died in April 2014, shortly after the retrospective dedicated to him by Arsenal. His film project DEDICATIONS, in which he wanted to bring together Robert Walser, Vincent van Gogh, and a chieftain from South Sudan, remained unfinished. With help from his artistic companions, Liechti’s partner Jolanda Gsponer developed a three-part multimedia work from the existing material after his death: an installation, a reading, and a book. In memory of Peter Liechti, we are presenting the book, a collage of film stills, texts, and travel notes, and the filmed reading. The latter shows Liechti in his studio reading from his hospital diary, augmented with footage of the hospital and Super-8 images of nature from his archive. His reflections about life and his imminent death are as always laced with laconicism, melancholy, humor and poetry: “Hello nothing, here I am, or maybe not. I’m going to make a film about you.” (bik).(16.11.)
