In the 1990s, the art world is shaken by a series of mysterious attacks. At first, paintings in renowned galleries were targeted, and later, bombs were set off by the pro-German movement in Austria. In 1994, the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts finally became a crime scene: unknown perpetrators painted over several works by the famous Austrian painter Arnulf Rainer with black paint – a targeted attack on the “Über-Maler” himself? In MASTER GAME, Lutz Dammbeck links these events with the controversial theories of a “Bajuwaric Liberation Army” (BBA) that is opposed to cultural change in Europe. In a mix of documentary material, interviews and essayistic reflections, the film explores the boundaries between artistic provocation, political extremism and conspiracy thinking. Is the iconoclasm in Vienna a deliberate statement, a random coincidence or part of an even bigger game? The film premiered at the International Leipzig Festival for Documentary and Animated Film and was the subject of heated debate for its in-depth analysis of art, radicalism and manipulation. MASTER GAME once again demonstrates Dammbeck's ability to weave seemingly unrelated events into a disturbing narrative about the mechanisms of power and ideology.
Documentary
1h 46min
16
DE
In the 1990s, Austria was rocked first by paint attacks on paintings and later by bomb attacks on galleries.
In the 1990s, the art world is shaken by a series of mysterious attacks. At first, paintings in renowned galleries were targeted, and later, bombs were set off by the pro-German movement in Austria. In 1994, the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts finally became a crime scene: unknown perpetrators painted over several works by the famous Austrian painter Arnulf Rainer with black paint – a targeted attack on the “Über-Maler” himself?
In MASTER GAME, Lutz Dammbeck links these events with the controversial theories of a “Bajuwaric Liberation Army” (BBA) that is opposed to cultural change in Europe. In a mix of documentary material, interviews and essayistic reflections, the film explores the boundaries between artistic provocation, political extremism and conspiracy thinking. Is the iconoclasm in Vienna a deliberate statement, a random coincidence or part of an even bigger game?
The film premiered at the International Leipzig Festival for Documentary and Animated Film and was the subject of heated debate for its in-depth analysis of art, radicalism and manipulation. MASTER GAME once again demonstrates Dammbeck's ability to weave seemingly unrelated events into a disturbing narrative about the mechanisms of power and ideology.