THURSDAY 19 SEPTEMBER | 15:30 | SCREENING | PHANTOMS OF LIBERTY

Paul Heintz proposes a road movie on a winter’s evening, somewhere on the Arabian Peninsula. Three friends, to stave off their boredom, engage in a verbal duel that unfolds into a reflection on power and prohibition. Magdalena Mitterhofer stages an encounter in an Alpine village between young people and an Italian intellectual of the old leftist school. Tensions rise against a backdrop of political divergence, leading to a violent confrontation. Erik Levine examines daily life in a prison in the United States. He lays bare truths about incarceration, institutional authority, confinement, shame, innocence, guilt, and the dynamics of power between those who wear the uniform and those who do not, within a regime of control and oppression.

Paul Heintz: Nafura | Exp. fiction | hdv | colour | 0:27:33 | France | 2023

Bored one evening, three friends have fun reflecting on the symbolism of the Jeddah fountain in Saudi Arabia. Built by the king in the 1980s, it is considered the highest fountain in the world. Their thoughts on this monument turn into reflections on power, prohibition and the recent gentrification

Biography

Paul Heintz is born in 1989 in Saint-Avold (France), a Fine Arts graduate at Beaux-Arts de Nancy, Arts Décoratifs de Paris and Le Fresnoy, Studio national des arts contemporains. He is currently living and working between Paris and the Lorraine region. His work goes through object, sound, film and installation has been presented at contemporary art event and film festival such as FID Marseille, IFFR Rotterdam, Paris Nuit Blanche and in art-center and museum as Centre Pompidou, Frac Lorraine, Les Rotondes.

Magdalena Mitterhofer: Corte | Exp. fiction | 4k | colour | 0:24:03 | Italy | 2024

Six millennials meet a famous writer at a former workers' retreat in the alps. Invited for an evening of conversation, tensions rise over political differences, leading to a violent clash between generations. In the narration, neither party is spared: the critical gaze is directed at the life choices of the predominantly privileged young people as well as the patriarchal antagonist.

The central theme of “Corte” is the collision of two generations. As an artist and filmmaker, I am interested in portraying and exploring the significance of a particular subtle explosion within society. Social transgressions and ideas of sexual freedom have always been central to the desire to overcome the status quo. However, what exactly is considered progressive, bold, radical, and positively transgressive is understood differently by each generation. Contacts between generations in our culture have been reduced due to societal segmentation. Reasons for this include the increasing formation of academic bubbles, media echo chambers, and, in recent years, the social distancing mandated due to the pandemic. Yet, intergenerational encounters hold constructive potential for conflict.

Biography

Magdalena Mitterhofer (born 1994 in South Tyrol, Italy) is a director and artist based in Berlin. Her practice is often collaborative and operates at the intersection of various artistic

forms, including theater, film, and drawing. In her site-specific works, she explores the relationships between surrounding architectural and socio-political structures as well as the viewers. Magdalena received a master's degree in the class of Hito Steyerl at the University of the Arts Berlin and studied New Media at Tama University in Tokyo.

Magdalena Mitterhofer's works have been shown, among others, at Tanzquartier Wien, Kunstverein München, Volksbühne Berlin, Longtang Zurich, KW Institute for Contemporary Art Berlin, 3hd Festival Berlin, M.I. Glissee Berlin, Centrale Fies IT, Festspiele am Plötzensee, and Futura Gallery Prague. Since 2021, she has been producing, together with Shade Théret, the format "Lament.tv," a site-specific and nomadic performance and video series in Berlin.

Erik Levine: Midsentence | Video | 4k | colour | 0:32:15 | USA | 2024

“MIDSENTENCE” examines daily life in a county jail. It lays bare larger truths about incarceration, institutional authority, confinement, shame, innocence, guilt, and power dynamics between those in and out of uniform.

Life inside is embedded and manifested within brutalist architecture, hard/cold materials, sounds, and physicality that evince regiment and social subordination. Concrete, cinder block, metal bars, multitudinous locking systems, fluorescent lighting, bland barely nutritional food, and unpleasant smells reveal a regiment of control and oppression.

Biography

Erik Levine was born in Los Angeles, California in 1960. He has exhibited widely in the United States and Europe, most recently at Ludwig Forum Aachen with a solo survey exhibition of his videos from the past 15 years. His work includes video, sculpture, and drawings, and is in the public collections of the Whitney Museum of American Art, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, Walker Art Center, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, and Des Moines Art Center, among several others. He has received numerous awards including a Guggenheim Fellowship and three Pollock–Krasner Foundation awards. In addition, he’s received two grants each from the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York Foundation for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts, and the Massachusetts Cultural Council, as well as grants from Awards in the Visual Arts, Nancy Graves Foundation, and the Jerome Foundation.