portfolio - silke schoenfeld · portfolio silke schönfeld [email protected] . they're just...
TRANSCRIPT
They're just looking, they don't know anything2020, HD Videofilm still
They're just looking, they don't know anything
“Die sehen ja nur, die wissen ja nichts“, 2020 Full HD, 26:58 min, film stills
The short documentary portrays a 16-year-old
German Turkish Thai boxer from the post-industrial
town of Dortmund.
The camera follows Aleyna Asya Akgün during her
preparation for the European Championships 2019.
She naturally spends her entire freetime in the gym
with her male sporting comrades and coaches. As
late as 2012 women’s boxing became an Olympic
discipline. Throughout film history boxing has been
a metaphor for good and bad, body and mind or male
and female. Far away from conventional narratives
a crucial moment in the life of the young protagonist
is depicted. While biographical information does not
serve as a blueprint for her motivation, the short
documentary rather focusses on her physical and
psychological experiences.
for full-length video send a request to [email protected]: https://vimeo.com/332941780/c9a011a3e7
Mainacht – invented traditions part one2019, HD Video
film still
Mainacht – invented traditions part one
“Mainacht - invented traditions part one“, 2019Full HD, 41:27 min, exhibition view/film stills
In a small catholic village in Germany young adults
engage in a tradition, that involves a bachelorette
auction and decorated trees. The camera becomes
part of the group while the rituals unfold within a
framework of brotherhood, nationalism, Catholicism
and militarism. Religious and secular traditions are
intertwined.
Through an ethnological and at the same time
empathetic perspective on a domestic tradition
questions about common values and certainties are
raised.
extract: https://vimeo.com/322829781/e70cb2585f for full-length video send a request to [email protected]
Mönchszüge – invented traditions part two2019, HD Video
Filmstill
Mönchszüge – invented traditions part two
“Mönchszüge - invented traditions part two“, 2019Full HD, 21:47 min, film stills
The short documentary introduces two members of a non-profit association, which organizes a choir procession in a small town near the Zittauer Montains in the German province of Saxony. The singers are dressed up as monks and wear torches in order to keep the memory of a 16th century monastic order alive. The picturesque imagery of the monk procession raises questions about narratives of national identity against the historical and current
backdrop of populist right wing powers. The tradition was invented in this small village called Oybin in 1851. The processions took place even when regimes were in power that were rather hostile towards religion, like the Nazi Regime or the communist East German Regime (GBR). Fragments of family memories shine like flashlights on the collective memory of Germany and raise questions of personal responsibility.
extract: https://vimeo.com/332943661/988b54450b for full-length video send a request to [email protected]
One Percent – imagined communities2019, HD Video
film still
One Percent – imagined communities›Ein Prozent für unser Land‹ [One percent for our country] is a self-appointed citizen‘s initiative that organizes protest campaigns against Germany‘s migration politics. The members of this non-profit association have alliances with the far right and the populist right wing party AfD. The association was founded in small Saxonian town Oybin. The association produces emotionalizing propaganda videos of their actions, that aim to influence the masses. I visited sites throughout Eastern Germany where their protest campaigns already took place and the propaganda videos were shot. The imagery I shot on the original sites is calm and unspectacular and only accompanied by ambient sound. Textual information, designed like lexical definitions, provide insight into what has happened in the respective places.
“Ein Pozent – imagined communities“, 2018Full HD, 7:41 min, installation view/film stills
extract: https://vimeo.com/313542144/d6ff25afb4 for full-length video send a request to [email protected]
Daca ploua, nu ma ploua2019, HD Video
film still
Daca ploua, nu ma ploua / If it rains, it doesn’t rain on meThe experimental documentary follows children and youth from the Katernberg district of Essen. The seemingly inexhaustible energy of the young bodies finds expression in their own choreographies: loudly sung melodies from catchy pop songs, spontaneous drumming concerts and improvised soccer tournaments shape the spontaneous moments caught on film, which seem to follow their own rhythm. The young protagonists appear as experts on their neighborhood and give film viewers both the sense of being part of the group and also silent observers. The name of the work is taken from the title of a manea, a Romanian pop folksong. In the spring of 2019 the film was shot for the ›Blue Skies‹ festival at PACT Zollverein.
“Daca ploua, nu ma ploua“, 2019 Full HD, 17:23 min, film stills
for full-length video send a request to [email protected]: https://vimeo.com/342546291/0a035a82ad
The Lying Sun2017, HD Videofilm still
/ الشمس الكاذبة/ שמש שקרנית
The Lying Sun الشمس الكاذبة / שמש שקרנית /On a road trip the camera follows a taxi driver from Bethlehem, a female settler from Tekoa, Girl Scouts from Bethlehem, pupils from Beit Hanina and many others. A state of confusion originates from the rapidly changing scenes and characters in this essayistic documentary. It is hard to tell whether a scene is filmed in Jerusalem or Hebron, if the protagonists are Muslim or Jewish, Palestinian or Israeli. This confusion leads to reasonable doubt about one’s own stereotypes and prejudices. The title is a Hebrew saying that refers to the shining sun on cold winter days.
“The lying sun“, 2017 Full HD, 14:58 min, film stills
for full-length video send a request to [email protected]
extract: https://vimeo.com/332480536/9335aa0d93
Beyond all reasonable measure2017, installation viewKunsthalle Düsseldorf
Beyond all reasonable measureBased on archival research I chose texts which were published by the Düsseldorfer Kunstverein between 1929 and 1956 to reflect on the role of art institutions and individuals before and after the Third Reich. In three chapters three actors, recite the texts and bring them to life in their mother tongue. The link below shows an extract from the third chapter. Autobiographical texts from 1929/1930 by three artists (Max Clarenbach, Arno Breker and Max Stern) are combined to one monologue about the beginning of a ficitonal artist‘s career. Minkyung Kim creates an intimate atmosphere when she recites this inner monologue in Korean and wanders through the corridors of the Academy of Fine Arts in Düsseldorf.
extract chapter [3]: https://vimeo.com/252758247
“Beyond all reasonable measure“, 2017 Full HD, 16:28 min, film stills
for full-length video send a request to [email protected]
Only those who know the work, will appreciate it2016, HD Videofilm still
Only those who know the work, will appreciate it
“Only those who know the work, will appreciate it“, 2016Full HD, 17:49 min, film stills
The short documentary was shot during a participative community project in the post-industrial city of Dortmund, DE. Each chapter depicts another everyday situation which is reenacted by the residents who play themselves. The first chapter shows teenage boys sitting in a garage, making fun of each other and experimenting with freestyle rap. The second chapter shows a young Syrian couple that recently came to Germany. They tease each other about their plans for the weekend. On their smartphones they are constantly checking the news about their homecountry. The third chapter shows two brothers playing Jenga with each other. They receive a voice message. In the last chapter we follow two girls who explore an empty building in the neighbourhood. The building embodies the long-gone glory of steel factories that were in the city years ago. A tension between fiction and documentary arises.
for full-length video send a request to [email protected]: https://vimeo.com/332943927/5efa7a594e
come and see yourself2015, HD Videofilm still
come and see yourself
“come and see yourself“, 2015 Full HD dual-channel loop, 14:40 min, film stills
full-length video: https://vimeo.com/124757578
The two-channel video installation shows a young female teacher marking an exam in a classroom: On one screen you see the handwritten text, on the other her face in a close-up. The handwritten text is based on the subtitiles of an ISIS propaganda video found on YouTube.
Temporary Gallery, Cologne, installation view: Simon Vogel, 2015
Vita*1988, Idar-Oberstein, Germany
Works and lives in Amsterdam, NL and Dortmund, DE
residencies & awards
2019 73. internationaler Bergischer Kunstpreis, art award, Solingen, DE
2018 Promotion Prize of the City of Dortmund, DE
2017 DEW21 Kunstpreis, art award, Dortmund, DE
2013 Das Hungertuch, art award with Salon Ateliers, Linz am Rhein, DE
2011 Otto-Bahrenburg, promotion prize with Salon Ateliers, Dortmund, DE
2011 TU Dortmund Art Award, Dortmund, DE
fellowships & stipends
2020 - 2021 Rijksakadmie van beeldene kunsten, Amsterdam, NL
2019 project grant, Ministry of Culture & Science of the State of NRW
as part of the programme IKF, a project by the ecce GmbH
2018 Daejeon Public Arts Research Institute, Daejeonk, KR
2015 Cusanuswerk, scholarship, Bonn, DE
education
2012-2018 Academy of Fine Arts Münster, Diploma, DE
studied under Aernout Mik, Meisterschülerin
Academy of Fine Arts Düsseldorf, Diploma, DE
studied under Marcel Odenbach
2016-2017 Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design, Jerusalem, IL
2009-2010 University of Liverpool, Philosophy, Liverpool, UK
2007-2013 TU University of Dortmund, Master of Education, DE
(philosophy, art, educational science)
solo exhibitions
2021 *KIT, Düsseldorf, DE
2020 *Walzwerk Null, Düsseldorf, DE
2020 imagines communities – invented traditions, Gemeinde Köln, Cologne, DE
group exhibitions (selected)
2020 Ruhrding, Urbane Künste Ruhr, Herne, DE
2020 The Public Matters, LWL Museum, Münster, DE
2019 Monitoring – 36. Kasseler Dokfest, Fridericianum, Kassel, DE
2019 73. internationaler Kunstpreis, Kunstmuseum Solingen, DE
2019 Blue Skies - Bodies in Trouble, PACT Zollverein, Essen, DE
2019 Performance & Videokunst, FFT Juta, Düsseldorf, DE
2017 Ornament & Obsession, Building Bridges Art Exchange, Santa Monica, US
2017 Shemesh Shakranit, 2000 Off Space, Jerusalem, IL
2017 Akademie [Arbeitstitel], Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, DE
2017 DEW Kunstpreis, Dortmunder U, Dortmund, DE
2017 Grandtour, Skulptur Projekte, Münster, DE
2016 Video Folkwang, Folkwang Museum, Essen, DE
2016 Union Produktion, Emscherkunst, Dortmund, DE
2016 Ornament & Obsession, Goethe-Institut, Paris, FR
2016 so traurig war das shooting, Kunstverein Gelsenkirchen, Gelsenkirchen, DE
2015 Harun Farocki: Nicht löschbares Feuer, Temporary Gallery, Cologne, DE
2015 Spieglein, Spieglein an der Wand, Kunstverein Wiesen, DE
2014 Große Kunstausstellung NRW, Museum Kunstpalast, Düsseldorf, DE
affiliations & memberships
2016 founding of Union Produktion film studio, Dortmund, Germany
2011 member of Salon Ateliers, artist group/off-space, Dortmund, Germany
*upcoming