Between reality and fiction
Artist Talk
CLEMENS VON WEDEMEYER
11/06/14
Academy of Fine Arts Munich
Blurring the boundaries between the documentary and the staged, the question of the veracity of stories’ images and narratives, as well as the cinema as a real and conceptual place, are common themes in Clemens von Wedemeyer’s work. The early stages of his work are often characterized by an exploration of concrete locations and inspiration from film history. In ‘Silberhöhe’ (2003-2004), for example, this leads to the camera’s observation and migration through the empty housing Halle-Silberhöhe that was inspired by Michelangelo Antonioni’s film ‘L’eclisse’ (1962) and in which the houses resemble a film set. Other works like ‘Against Death’ (2009), which focuses on an immortality ritual, or ‘Muster/Rushes’ (2012), which, on three different temporal levels, deals with the history of the Breitenau monastery near Kassel, are complex and circular narratives without a beginning or end. Born in 1974, von Wedemeyer has received numerous awards and is represented with his works at both film festivals and exhibitions. In 2006, his film ‘Rien du tout’ (made in collaboration with Maja Schweizer) was honored at the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen as the best German film. That same year, von Wedemeyer was awarded the Karl Schmidt-Rottluff Scholarship. Solo exhibitions of his work have been presented at the Kölnischer Kunstverein, MoMA PS1 in New York (both 2006), the Barbican Art Centre in London (2009) and the Frankfurter Kunstverein (2011). In 2012, he participated in (d)OCUMENTA 13.