Ten psychological states – 77 video artists and filmmakers form Asia and Europe

The exhibition Human Frames is dedicated to the human being, the condition humaine and the various states of mind that accompany man on his journey through life. Exhibition on view through 24 July 2011.

In the form of ten thematically compiled film programmes with works by contemporary artists and filmmakers from Asia and Europe that concentrate upon themes such as happiness, desire, madness, fanaticism, fear, anger, isolation, melancholy, the exhibition will re-examine and illuminate human existence at the start of the twenty-first century from the perspective of the eastern concept mono no aware (‘the pathos of things’) and impermanence.

Qiulin Chen, “Peach Blossom,” China 2009. 16’37 / 16:9, Filmstill. © Lowave, Paris.

Human Frames intends to take account of the lively exchange of images and ideas between both continents, itself now an established, customary practice in the era of the new media and globalisation. The exhibition provides a well-founded insight into the video art and experimental film scenes and refers both to the crystallisation of a universal pictorial language that is being developed beyond national, social and cultural affinities, as well as the continuance of diverse cinematic traditions to which the individual works belong. The result is a fascinating spectrum of artistic expression—bold experiments in sound and image, which coalesce in free association to form a vibrant portrait of humanity.

The works presented in the exhibition were not especially created for Human Frames. The history of their origins is varied, as is the context in which they are normally shown. The selected directors hale from different artistic milieus (contemporary art, film, digital media, etc.) and work with a bandwidth of techniques ranging from traditional film (Super-8, 16mm, 35mm) via digital media all the way to hybrid animation and collage techniques. The stylistic diversity of the films is overwhelming and touches upon the genres of video art, performance, music clip, documentary film and animation. Common to all these media is a quest to find a new pictorial and tonal language, as well as the presence of the human figure and its respective mise-en-scène in a particular emotional state. A particular internal tension between the individual programmes derives from the juxtaposition of European and Asian works, a confrontation which also produces resonances that oscillate across the individual thematic blocks. Disparate practices and processes, as well as ideological convergences and divergences, are thus captured associatively and combined to create a new unity.

Human Frames was curated by Silke Schmickl and Gertrud Peters with support from Masayo Kajimura, Stéphane Gérard, Victric Thng and François Michaud.
The exhibition is accompanied by a programme booklet in English and German.

In cooperation with LOWAVE, Paris.

KIT – Kunst im Tunnel
Mannesmannufer 1b
D-40213 Düsseldorf
www.kunst-im-tunnel.de

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