Lutz Dammbeck experiments with the boundaries between film, performance and media art. In the early 1980s, he works with dancer Fine Kwiatkowski to develop elements for his planned media collages – a central element of his “Herakles Concept”. This multi-layered project explores myths and political systems and their impact on society. In 1984, Dammbeck moved into an independent art space on Sredzkistraße in East Berlin, which was run by art historian Eugen Blume and artists such as Hans Scheib and Erhard Monden, for a few days to further develop his artistic ideas. There, he made the first video recordings of the rehearsals, which were later filmed directly from the monitor with a 16mm camera. These images were incorporated into various media collages, including LA SARRAZ, HERAKLES and REALFilm. It was only in 1988, after he had moved to the West, that Dammbeck edited the original footage in Hamburg to create the independent video HERAKLES. The raw, unembellished aesthetic combined with the expressive body language of Fine Kwiatkowski gives the work a disturbing intensity. The film deals with the struggle between body and image, movement and media transmission – central motifs in Dammbeck's artistic work. HERAKLES was shown at various film festivals and is considered an important part of Dammbeck's GDR experimental film series. Its radical approach and interdisciplinary working method make the work a unique testimony to the independent art scene in East Berlin before the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Icons & Media Art
10min
0
DE
Together with Lutz Dammbeck, dancer Fine Kwiatkowski explores myths, political systems and their impact on society.
Lutz Dammbeck experiments with the boundaries between film, performance and media art. In the early 1980s, he works with dancer Fine Kwiatkowski to develop elements for his planned media collages – a central element of his “Herakles Concept”. This multi-layered project explores myths and political systems and their impact on society.
In 1984, Dammbeck moved into an independent art space on Sredzkistraße in East Berlin, which was run by art historian Eugen Blume and artists such as Hans Scheib and Erhard Monden, for a few days to further develop his artistic ideas. There, he made the first video recordings of the rehearsals, which were later filmed directly from the monitor with a 16mm camera. These images were incorporated into various media collages, including LA SARRAZ, HERAKLES and REALFilm.
It was only in 1988, after he had moved to the West, that Dammbeck edited the original footage in Hamburg to create the independent video HERAKLES. The raw, unembellished aesthetic combined with the expressive body language of Fine Kwiatkowski gives the work a disturbing intensity. The film deals with the struggle between body and image, movement and media transmission – central motifs in Dammbeck's artistic work.
HERAKLES was shown at various film festivals and is considered an important part of Dammbeck's GDR experimental film series. Its radical approach and interdisciplinary working method make the work a unique testimony to the independent art scene in East Berlin before the fall of the Berlin Wall.