Susann Maria Hempel: The Guardians of Refuse. A short history of rubbish

Archives have long since ceased to be the only places through which we humans can write our history(s). In her experimental film Die Hüter des Unrats. Eine kurze Geschichte des Mülls (The Guardians of Refuse. A short history of rubbish), Susann Maria Hempel focuses on the more inconspicuous and yet omnipresent legacy of our everyday lives: Garbage. Through it, “every action [...] left its trace, the undeniable proof that it had occured” (Michel Tournier). But what if contemporary concepts of consistent circular economy no longer include waste? The garbage, thanks to our human inconsistency, creates for itself an alternative archive in another place, barely visible to us: In the living organisms of the oceans. (Cornelius Ferber)

Proposed by Cornelius Ferber

 

Susann Maria Hempel

*1983 in Greiz (GDR).

Susann Maria Hempel studied media design at the Bauhaus University Weimar (2001-2009), she lives and works in Wuppertal (North Rhine-Westphalia). For the realization of her experimental films she received several working scholarships from the Thuringian Cultural Foundation, the Bremen Video Art Promotion Award (2012) and the "cast&cut" short film scholarship in Hanover. Her experimental film “Sieben Mal am Tag beklagen wir unser Los und nachts stehen wir auf, um nicht zu träumen” (Seven times a day we complain of our lot and at night we get up not to dream) received numerous awards, including the “Prize for the Best Contribution to the German Competition” at the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen, the German Short Film Award 2014 in the experimental film category and the “Grand Prix Labo” at the International Short Film Festival in Clermont-Ferrand. In 2021/22 she was a fellow of the German Academy Rome Villa Massimo.