In the series HMKV Video of the Month, HMKV presents current video works by international artists for the duration of one month each – selected by Inke Arns.
Fabian Bechtle: Encounter
HMKV Video of the Month
On view 1 – 31 March 2018
In the video work Encounter, a masseuse can be seen treating the monumental granite head of the Berlin Lenin monument, which was dismantled in 1992, to a traditional massage. First buried in the outskirts of Berlin, the head now finds itself in the Zitadelle Spandau in a permanent exhibition on the monuments of Berlin. Encounter stages the encounter of completely different traditional and political concepts.
The masseuse meets the massive Lenin monument which is lying on the side with a vitalizing head massage. The traditional Thai massage practiced today is closely linked to Buddhism. It is assumed that the Buddhist monks themselves have developed the Thai massage to cure the effects of long meditation positions. The focus on the hands of the performer documents the treatment, but also points to the emergence of the sculpture through the hands of a sculptor. Thus, Encounter is not only an ironic commentary on the present state of ideological representation of the "hero of the October Revolution", but also negotiates the mystifying notion of intuitive artistic creation. The red granite of the Lenin statue comes from the Ukraine.
Fabian Bechtle (*1980, DE) studied in Leipzig and Lyon. Based in Berlin, he worked with Armin Linke from 2009 to 2011. After that, with a DAAD grant for postgraduate artists, he moved to Belgrade for a research project where he also investigated the archives of Josip Broz Tito. His works have been shown at PACT Zollverein, Essen; Goethe-Institute, Rome; Fabricca del Vapore, Milano; Bonner Kunstverein; ngbk Berlin; Museum for Contemporary Art and Museum for Yugoslav History, Belgrade; and Trehgornaya Manufactura, Moscow. http://fabianbechtle.de/