For the 10th time, Arsenal is presenting works made by grant-holders of Berlin’s cultural department’s “Funding program for women artists in film/video” over the past two years. What should be underlined is the event’s open form and the fact that many of the works are still in the process of becoming. A space will be created to discuss the artistic approaches in a joint discussion. The inscription of an artist’s signature in the decisive selection of a medium of expression, the subtle approach to familial and social upheavals, the questioning of ascribed roles, the conscious transgression of traditional narrative forms in the performative exaggeration or the rejection of dramatic form are just some of the themes emerging.
We will open with DIE ANGREIFBAREN (2019) by Kerstin Cmelka and Mario Mentrup. The seemingly bizarre life of a patchwork family, in which everyone is a professional multimedia performer trying to make a living in the cultural industry, unfolds with verve in this experimental portmanteau film. In the varying narrative structures and variable visual formats, the characters turn out to be vulnerable (“angreifbar” in German): modern impostors who use plenty of energy and experimental multi-functionality to keep the suspense going and illustrate in their performances the expansive possibilities within the modern, precarious sector. A modern version of the cinema of attractions.
The projects of Rachel Alliston, Ute Aurand, Heike Baranowsky, Maja Classen, Helga Fanderl, Laura Cristina Fong Próspero, Clara Jo, Gudrun Krebitz, Pantea Lachin, Christine Lang, Rita Macedo, Marita Neher, Hajnal Németh, Sarah Oh-Mock, Jana Papenbroock, Deborah S. Philips, Annegret Sachse, Anna Steinert, Moana Vonstadl and Gisela Weimann will also be presented. The printed program will give further insight into the works. (ara) (25.–29.9.)
