VOLUMEN EXPRESS: Projects: FACADES OF CRISIS (G/NO/ARG, 2010) multiple channel video/ space installation

Concept and realization: Anett Vietzke and Veronika Bökelmann
Gefördert von Senat von Berlin/ Internationaler Kulturaustausch und
Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen e.V.

Showings.
Club Cultural Matienzo, Buenos Aires 13th to 20th December 2011
24. Stuttgarter Filmwinter. Festival for Expanded Media. TEN ROOMS. JURY AWARD, January 2011
GALERIE STADTGESTALT. Serge von Arx, Berlin. premiere, November 2010

"The installation captures a national crisis from the peoples point of view. It does not contain statistics or glossy and dynamic story-telling of the news, but gives space for people whose everyday life has suddenly erupted. The power of the artwork lies in its direct and modest approach, voicing out a political statement which has many dimensions and tones.", Jury statement 24. Stuttgarter Filmwinter, Hanna Haaslahti (FIN), Johannes Auer (G), Mark Lee (CH)

At 24. Stuttgarter Filmwinter, Festival for Expanded Media © VOLUMEN EXPRESS and friends

The video/space installation FACADES OF CRISIS explores the consistency and social relevance of architectural safety measurements in Buenos Aires. The installation juxtaposes the rigid structure of metal bars with the personal experiences of ten inhabitants of the city. The descriptions of the interviewees from distinctive social backgrounds depict the effects of the crisis: They deal with trust and mistrust, utopia and dream. The installation creates a communal space for people, who due to increasing segregation are more and more isolated from each other.

“Since the state has broken its own rules, people don’t trust each other any more.”, describes lawyer and notary Marta Bodo (Buenos Aires) her experience of the economic crash in Argentina in 2001. The crisis indicates the peak of the states extreme course of privatization and market deregulation following neoliberal advices. In 2001 thence, the government had to declare its bankruptcy. After the devaluation of the currency, private bank accounts were blocked by an executive order to avoid a bank rush. Thousands of people lost their savings, perspectives and self-perception literally over night without any governmental protection. Consequently the experience of precariousness and uncertainty has shaped biographies, architecture and daily life in the city of Buenos Aires significantly. The economic crisis signified an all-embracing representational crisis.

Interviewed persons: Teresa Petrana Alaguibe (cleaning lady, has been living in an occupied house for many years), Marta Bodo (lawyer and notary), Walter Christian Citzenmaier (homeless, lives across the street of the government building), Lic. Eduardo Grimoldi (psychologist, specialist for anxiety and crisis), Claudia Rosenberg (former flight attendant, actress since 2001), Nestor Piquero (architect and designer), María Graciela Ponce (kioskera), César Saldaña (locksmith, worked for Peugeot until 2001), José Saphir (constructor, inventor), Florencia Arbós (schoolgirl, born in 2001).

FACADES OF CRISIS is based on research material of the documentary theatre installation (IM)POTENCIA. The performance has been realized in collaboration with Residencias del Sur (Buenos Aires), Sophiensaele (Berlin) and Black Box Teater (Oslo). It has been funded by Hauptstadtkulturfond (Berlin), Fond Fritt Ord (Norwegen), Norsk Kulturråd, Norsk Kulturråd Scenetekst (Norwegen) and Goethe Institute München and Oslo.