FACING NEW CHALLENGES
Extraordinary works of art in extraordinary places: With FACING NEW CHALLENGES we focus on new tendencies in the border area of film, visual art and other media.
FACING NEW CHALLENGES explores the current possibilities of the moving image beyond the usual cinema formats. Whether concept films, web formats or installations based on models such as Julian Rosefeldt, Steve McQueen, Hito Steyerl or the late Harun Farocki: through the interplay of artworks and venues such as the Kunsthalle Mannheim, we want to gain new insights into the relationship between film and other arts together with you.
Programme 2022
LANDSCAPES AND BODIES SERIES
Daniel Kötter, 2022
- Three films of 50 minutes each
Video artist and stage director Daniel Kötter has been working on the series ›landscapes and bodies‹ since 2019. Its subject is the conditions and consequences of human resource extraction in different corners of the globe. Kötter has traveled to various parts of the world, following the trail of this overexploitation of nature: from the coalfields on the Ruhr, to the coltan mines in Congo, to the gold rivers of Indonesia. In collaboration with the dramaturg Sarah Israel, set designer Elisa Limberg, and an international team of artists, Kötter has turned these journeys into filmic portraits of exploited landscapes and people that are as implicating as they are poetic. The works offer the viewer impressive landscape shots and at the same time create great intimacy with the people depicted. One of the exceptional qualities of Kötter’s films is the way they closely combine contemplative landscape observation with concrete criticism of political realities.
From the series ›landscapes and bodies‹ we are showing ›Water & Coltan‹ as well as ›Gold & Coal‹. As 360° films, they offer a unique sensory experience – indeed a spectacular physical experience. The images appear closer to us than ever before. The VR headsets allow you to dive into another world – from the middle of the Kunsthalle atrium – for 50 minutes at a time.