Video-artist Kim Engelen

W E E K L Y M U S I N G S
Netherlands->to Spain->to USA->now in Sweden
www.kimengelen.com
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Berlin/Germany, Week 20, 2013

[Bridges]
These weekly posts are part of my doing as an artist. And by doing these post, I make that particular working-part of the process visible. I don’t necessarily see it as the work itself. But it could well be that this process is in fact so important that it is in some way the work. As in performance, what is the work? Is it the actual doing of the performance itself or is it the outcome, the reproducible part of it? For those who were not there during the performance, there has to be something in order to then know that the performance took place. Either what happened told by someone or some form of visible heritage. Or else how would we know about it? Or is this not the real work, the actual performance?
My bridge-performances take place outside and are not set up for an art public. And even the other person is not aware that s/he is part of a performance. So I do choose for some form of memory of these performances. The traces are the photograph(s) made by the non aware author(s) of the photograph(s). When there comes another book of [Bridges] it might well be that in this reproduction part of the bridge-performances only the photographs are visible. And via this blog (up until now only via this blog) I sometimes told you the work stories of the bridges-performances.

image
Kim Engelen, [Sun-penetrations], 1 May 2013, Berlin/Germany

1 day ago

Berlin/Germany, Week 19, 2013

[Bridges]
May 11, 2013: Coming from the Martin-Gropius-Bau museum, I was walking back along the River Spree to where I currently reside. And I was enjoying this day after an intensive week in which I had pulled three all-nighters for my MFA thesis with wonderful results. It was a lovely Saturday and many tourists where on their way. I did my bridge-performances on 5 different bridges. And I addressed a multitude of locals and tourists and at one time I even had the opportunity to speak in my mother-tongue Dutch.

And I try to remember what language we spoke in this particular bridge performance. I think it was German, but I could be wrong. It was a beautiful little family. A man, woman and three small children around the age of seven and nine. The couple was slightly older then an average family with young children. And all three children had very light blond hair. The presumably mother had dark short hair and the presumably father I think had dark blond hair. He was wearing a big ass camera and was really flaunting it. 

So I was walking along the river and saw The Nördliche Monbijoubrücke, which is a vaulted arch bridge that crosses over the River Spree and Kupfergraben, to connect Monbijoupark with the Museum Island.

At the moment where he wanted to hand over the camera to his presumably wife to also make a picture of him and the kids. I said: “Shall I make a picture of you all together? And then you could perhaps make a picture of me as well?” To which he agreed. When it was my turn I asked the man if he could make a picture of me, with the complete bridge in the background and if possible also visible the television tower and the dome of the Bode museum. And he did this job properly; he took his time and made several pictures. And after each picture he showed me the picture to see if I was satisfied. In between I checked the woman to see if she was okay, which she was. And also the kids weren’t annoyed. He captured ten photographs, and the tenth picture is the one shown here below. Which is a well taken photograph, it has everything in it: the Fernsehturm, the Nördliche Monbijoubrücke and the Bode Museum with its dome visible and as a cherry on the pie an enormous red tourists-boat going under the bridge. 

image
Kim Engelen, [Bridges] Nördliche Monbijoubrücke No. 10, Berlin, Germany, 2013

1 week ago

Berlin/Germany, Week 18, 2013

While in the process of graduating for a MFA in Critical and Pedagogical studies at Malmö Art Academy, I am working on the production of 3 steady series: [Sun-penetrations], [Bridges] and [Self-portraits]. And I was thinking to write down a small sum up of; What I am doing, thinking on or trying to develop or find out, and possible short/long term direction or (learning) goals with these. And the possible interconnections between the 3 series. 

[Sun-penetrations] =
Making photographs of the sun penetrating through an unspecified object and touching a surface. I am thinking of the for me contradictory relation to aesthetics and emotion these photographs have, which is beauty and death. This emotion could be presented stronger, not by the mere presentation of the singular photograph but by the multitude of them, which would represent the reoccurring melancholic emotion of the awareness of death; not per se the actual ending, but the opposite of growth or development. To achieve this I need to collect more sun penetrations, and for this I need more sunny days and places where I am to capture these sun penetrations. And a better apparatus to photograph with would be better, since I feel that these pictures might have a specific way of presentation in the future. What I like is that there comes in some human element, sometimes very specific e.g. a food or leg and at other times merely the presence of humans e.g. by the architecture of design of furniture. 

[Bridges] = 
Performing and collecting photographs made by unknown people with my iPhone from me standing on or in front of bridges throughout the world. What I like about this project that is that it touches upon many layers, which gives the work an enormous potential to explore. What I am thinking on especially is its presentation and materiality. At the moment I ceased to do post-work on the photographs. And while doing so this discards some of it layers but becomes also more focused. In order to create new work for the [Bridges] series, I would like to go to Warsaw in Poland, Oslo in Norway and Bilbao in Spain.

[Self-portraits] =
The collecting of pictures made with the iPhone of mostly my face, written down dreams and opinions on me uttered by others. What I like is that I continue to receive unrequested opinions on me as a person. Which might reveal how people perceive me, but also says something about them. And that this element also comes in, I find very appealing. The series now consists of several parts that create [Self-portraits] which gives me more freedom and flexibly in the production of it. How I see myself (photographs with titles), how others see me (received opinions) and the unconscious (dreams). The front camera of the iPhone is jammed and as a result of this I am not making new pictures of myself. After graduation I really need to fix this technical hurdle. Within this project I am thinking about time and presentation of the work. Theoretically it shouldn’t end since the self portrait constantly alters or is in motion. And at the moment there is a dispersed and unclear representational form of presentation. 

A surprise to myself is that there is a relation between the series, which deals with memory, which is not per se something that I work with as a given in itself. 

imagePhotograph by André Smits, Artists in the World: Kim Engelen, Berlin

2 weeks ago

Berlin/Germany, Week 17, 2013

This week I gave the second workshop on “The New Studio Visit” at UdK (Berlin University of the Arts). And thanks to the participating artists new knowledge has been produced on the topic studio visits. The workshop offered 3 pedagogical strategies to enter the studio visit and was an exploration in the potential of the studio visit for visual artists. The workshop was a combination of exercises in which the artists practiced with each other the 3 offered models and discussed these afterwards. The discussions and interviews with will be processed and reflected upon in: “The New Studio Visit - 3 pedagogical models”. Which  is my MFA thesis for the program Critical and Pedagogical Studies at Malmö Art Academy/Lund University.

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Participants practicing “The New Studio Visit”, UdK, Berlin 2013

3 weeks ago

Berlin/Germany, Week 16, 2013

[Self-portraits] 

April 15, 2013: Last night I was dreaming that I was having sexual intercourse with someone. I can’t see who it is, but I see the naked body without a face and women surrounding us. The women are dressed and have long hair. One woman stands out with dark long hair. I get out of the situation and run upstairs to the attic, completely devastated and without lust for life because I realize I can’t have an orgasm via penetration. With my face towards the corner, I squat down in the left front side of the attic where I somehow have to try to find my bodily balance in order not to fall down the open wooden floor. The rest of the attic is spacious, modern, empty and has a sunny yellow wooden floor. I realize while running upstairs that the woman with the dark long hair is following me up. But I don’t want to be comforted because I know that it will be of no use, because it doesn’t change the fact that I can’t come by penetration. Nevertheless when I am in the corner I do open up to her and hope to hear that she has the same issue, but she has not, partially there comes something that seems like that is what she is going to say, but it is not. Then I am outdoors, in the front of the house, I believe it is my house. It is quit big, whitish and from Victorian architectural style. I am standing in front of the gate, from the inside and again on the left side. The gate is high, silver/grey coloured and has spikes on top. The gate is not straight, it has one in- and one outgoing corner. While standing there I am thinking because of the hight and spikes, that it looks like a protection gate, which it is not because it is open. I try to count the amount of bars, I can’t but there must be somewhere around 20 bars. With the moist of the first part of my vagina, I wet the first bar in order to count the amount of bars. And I am thinking if I wet every single bar with an orgasm I could count them. Again the women are also there around the gate.

imageKim Engelen, [Sun-penetrations], 12 Jan 2013, Berlin/Germany

1 month ago

Berlin/Germany, Week 15, 2013

[Self-portraits]
25 March 2013: Last night I dreamed that we were being chased by a huge bear with a prickly brown/black pelt. I tried to hide in a high horizontal overlay kitchen cupboard and was afraid the structure would not hold me and would come down, and also that it was not high enough for the bear not to reach it. We also had to compete who could hide were. He smelled me and he was indeed so tall that his head did reach me. I had a hand gun and shot the bear 4 times in the face. I think in the eye and the beak. The bear did not die immediately but it did slow down, and I pushed his arm pow away from me. With hee fourth shot it fell on the ground. I had survived. I woke up and my throat was hurting and I felt a bit drained. The rest of the week I was sick. 

image
Kim Engelen, [Self-Portrait] 11 March 2013, Berlin/Germany, ITCHING BLUE SWEATER, No.7

1 month ago

Berlin/Germany, Week 14, 2013

[Sun-penetrations]
Should I already make some sort of selection? And if so, do I select on this particular melancholic quality sun penetrations can have? Or on the aesthetic, or perhaps not a specific selection, but more related to time or location? Because [Sun-penetrations] although they can appear immensely beautiful are in fact quit melancholic and not per se happy making. First this aah feeling and then this ohw gut feeling. But nevertheless they can have at first glance this peculiar beauty over them. The brightness of the [Sun-penetrations] on the water or brilliance reflecting through the glass. The aesthetics of the wondrous shapes they can create or the marvelous contrast’ they generate when they pierce throughout blinds, windows, holes, cracks and what not in to the semi/dark. Do I choose the ones that represent the [Sun-penetrations] series. Or should I convey something of the places as well, the cities, houses, furniture’s of the places where I am present when the [Sun-penetrations] happen. Because although I don’t create or construct the scenes for the [Sun-penetrations], it is I that records them, by being present at that particular moment and seeing or painfully feeling them. They can breath something positive, nurturing, warming, spiritual and comforting, or are reminders of some form of meditation. And on the other side they also conjure feelings of melancholia, presence of life moving in on full stop the opposite of standing still and being aware of this by the light peeping through somewhere into something which stands still, is in a vacuum, without movement and/or therefore thus in a pitiful state.

But again when I look back at the photographs these conflicting qualities are not always present. Should I omit these then? Or is okay that the aesthetic or logicality of some photographs take over? For now I also think that this should be a series. A series because it represent this state over a course of time. It is not a singular event. If comes and goes, it happens on different locations. Although put together, they are singular and don’t fit nicely together; different contrasts, shapes & forms, locations, settings, coloring. There is too much friction, but is that bad? I did fantasize to have life-size prints. But this is not what they are. They are photographed with the iPhone, not a special camera, no specific lens or ISO/ASA or shutter or what ever. They are not about the quality of the photograph itself, the print or the medium. No they should come to you simply, as the sunbeams can come to you. And that is through the computer screen. And when you look at them you are alone. Yes you are also alone. That is the condition that [Sun-penetrations] does need to transport. 

imageKim Engelen, [Sun-penetrations], 24 April 2012 Syrengatatan 12, Malmö/Sweden

1 month ago

Berlin/Germany, Week 13, 2013

[Sun-penetrations]
Although it is officially already springtime, there are not so much [Sun-penetrations] here in Berlin where I am now. So I look back at the photographs I have from Sweden, Prague, The Netherlands and Kassel, where I started recording the [Sun-penetrations] series. Somehow I find [Sun-penetrations] in general inside the bedroom the most appealing ones and less painful perhaps then the ones in the living room or outside. I wonder why I find these more appealing, is it because they are less painful? And are these less painful because the lack of transgression of melancholy?

But is less painful good in the context of art? When it is painless it might mean minus life. So for art to me this is not necessarily a good thing. The beautiful radiant full of life sun penetrations illuminating by their essence the other side of life; dust, still stand, lost of progress and therefore dead and therefore awareness of this. The shining light beams can have something conflicting, as something positive, nurturing, warming, spiritual and comforting. And on the other side transport feelings of melancholia, not being connected, presence of outside life moving in on the opposite, and by coming to a still stand on any particular object. Represented by the light penetrating through somewhere into something which stands still, is in a vacuum, without development and/or and therefore thus being in a pitiful state.

But besides this it is maybe purely because as a person I like to sleep. The act of sleeping to me is so pleasurable and quiet, almost like peaceful dead. “Don Quixote Señor, I know only one thing. When I sleep I know no fear, no hope, no work, no blessing. Blessings on him who invented sleep, that balance and weight that equals the shepherd with the king, and the simple with the wise. Sound sleep has but one defect - it smacks too much of death.”

imageKim Engelen, [Sun-penetrations], 17 April 2012 Syrengatatan 12, Malmö/Sweden

1 month ago / 1 note

Berlin/Germany, Week 12, 2013

[City Walk Talks]
The [City Walk Talks] are on the one hand what they are; the body walking through the city trying to make contact with others. But on the other hand [City Walk Talks] touches also on the aspect of how we as people are being watched, registered and recorded. This aspect of how we as people are being watched and registered also connects to my [Self Portraits] series, where I collect opinions uttered about me and photograph myself with a title, which is part of the same Self-portraits. (At the end of this blog, above the photograph I weekly place a new, in general individual, statement, compliment or judgment.)

But if we know that we are being recorded we usually act differently or at the least are conscious of the fact that we are being recorded. Therefore if the camera would be visible, the [City Walk Talks] just wouldn’t be the same. And on top of this, would the people that I approached during my [City Walk Talks] agree if I told them that I filmed them and that I am uploading this footage to YouTube publicly? Although we people are being recorded probably more then we know. I am sure of it that most of the people wouldn’t say yes to the idea that I use their recordings to show human behavior in an art context. Because the aware self is then involved and gets a choice offered. It is exactly the recording of these [City Walk Talks] that gives it another layer then merely the representation of the title of the work. Therefore a text that recalls the performance alone is not enough, it has to be an undeclared recording and this has to made unwittingly publicly like many recordings of us, that we never get to see. With my [City Walk Talks] I more or less artificially approach people and need to record this secretly.

  • Read:
  • Schiller, Susan A. „Creating the Joyful Writer, Introducing the Holistic Approach in the classroom.” Schiller, Susan A. Creating the Joyful Writer, Introducing the Holistic Approach in the classroom. Rowman & Littlefield Education, 2007. 121.
  • Sun Tzu, The Art of War, 6th century BC, read online»
  • Willa Sibert Cather, Spanish Johnny, 1873-1947, read online»
  • Willa Sibert Cather, Paradox, 1873-1947, read online»
  • Martin Espada, En la calle San Sebastian, 1998, (animation: Kwok Tung Shuen, 2008), watch online»
  • Film/Video:
  • Alexei Popogrepski, How I ended this summer, 2010
  • Leos Carax, Holy motors, 2012
  • Sergei Eisenstein, battleship Potempkin, 1925
  • Andrej Tarkowski, Solaris, 1972
  • Luis Buñuel, The descreet charm of the bourgeoisie, 1972 
  • Martha Graham, Lamentation, 1930, watch online»
  • Robert Bresson, Quatre nuits d’un rêveur (Four Nights of a Dreamer), 1971, watch online»
  • [Self-portraits] Cuban guy at Grüner Salon Berlin
    “Ist das dein Sohn wo du mit getanzt hast? Nein es ist ein Kompliment. Ich denke so 23, oder okay 5 Jahre dazu. Ich bin 36, aber ich gehe nicht junger dann 23. Nein 39, aj dann siehst du aber noch ganz gut aus. Lachst du immer? Wie lange Tanzt du schon? Hast du es nicht warm in dein Pulli? Was machst du hier? Wo kommst du her? Wo lebst du? Wieso sagst du mir nicht wo du lebst, wie kindisch. Ich kenne keine Holländerin die so frech ist wie du.” 
  • View pictures»

imageKim Engelen, [Self-portraits], 2 Feb 13, Maasbracht/NL, No.16,  STUDYING 

1 month ago

Berlin/Germany, Week 11, 2013

[City Walk Talks] 
Is it acceptable that technology has this enormous influence on the production and presentation of my work? This week I negatively noticed what the effect of technology has regarding my [City Walk Talks]. When something to the machinery happens…my work production literally stands still. The new spy cam pen which I purchased was not suited for the Mac, and there was a timestamp code into the video image, which dated 2007. And then on top of this my MacBook died on me. This week I have been trying to make the spy cam pen work without a timestamp code of 2007 overlaid on the video. And am still trying to get my MacBook to work again.

Fortunately my iPhone still works. And the sun has shone and created sun-penetrations in the bedroom, which I then could photograph for the [Sun Penetration] series. Also positive is that my hosting provider offered a free one-year upgrade of 30Gb for my web-account. Which means I can continue to upload photographs again for my [Self-portraits] series, since that action also had stopped because the memory of the website was depleted. As I see it know, my work is completely hooked onto technology. Making pictures with the iPhone, making (spy cam pen) videos, showing and sharing my work mostly digital. Not sure what to make of this, if my work is about communication, self-development, interaction, body, mind, people, is this a natural development as a reflexion of the time that I as human-artist live in?

As a lens-based performance artist I am in general working around the topics: communication, language, ethics, power structures, authorship and personal development. And with the latter personal development concerned with the humans desire for constant progress. And at the same time to make time stand still, to remember, to honor tradition, to feel nostalgia. 

  • Read:
  • Felix Marti-Ibanez, Amigo Heliotropo, 1954, read online»
  • Friedrich Hölderlin, Der Unzufriedne, 1770-1843, read online»
  • Emily Dickinson, “Why do I love” You, Sir?, 1830-1886, read online»
  • Pablo Neruda, And because Love battles, 1904-1973, read online»
  • Pablo Neruda, If You Forget Me, 1904-1973, read online»
  • Jane Austin, Pride and Prejudice, 1813, chapters 25-61, read online»
  • Film/Video:
  • Sam Mendes, Revolutionary Road, 2008
  • Alexei Popogrepski, How I ended this summer, 2010
  • Jean-luc Godard, Le Mepris (Contempt), 1963
  • Philip G Zimbardo, Quiet Rage: The Stanford Prison Experiment, 1992, watch online»
  • Brainwashing Techniques Through Media - Asch Conformity Experiment For Group Think, watch online»
  • Noam Chomsky on Education, Most Schooling Is Training for Stupidity and Conformity, 1989, watch online»
  • Workshop:
  • Jeremiah Day, Action, Word, Move, K77 Studio Berlin
  • [Self-portraits] Guy in Berlin Club ‘Havana’:
  • “You dance nice. You don´t dance like a white person, but more as a black person. I know you Dutch people can dance, I have seen it before.”
  • View pictures»

imageKim Engelen, [Sun-penetrations], 15 Mar 13, Berlin/Germany

2 months ago

Berlin/Germany, Week 10, 2013

[City Walk Talks]
Feb 21, 2013 I started with my new project working title [City Walk Talks] in which I go for walks in the city and try to talk to someone I don’t know. The first [City Walk Talk] was a lucky “shot”. Somebody addressed me on the street for a job opportunity. The second [City Walk Talk] was with a man from the LaRouche movement who was on the street to work for this political and cultural network (see text last week). So both [City Walk Talks] were relative easy on my part.

Berlin is the capital city of Germany and its largest city. According to wiki it has a population of 3.5 million people and after London it is the second most populous city and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union. Berlin is one of the greenest cities of Europe; 22% of Berlin exists of nature and parks. For my 3rd [City Walk Talks] I will go to the park “Großer Tiergarten”.

This time I have to put the spy pen cam somehow more closely to my mouth (audio) and more at eye-level (video). The first recording (of the man who offered me a job opportunity) I had put the spy pen cam in my hip-pocket which resulted in recordings of the torso of the man. You could not see his face and the street noise contributed to distractions and noise in the audio. Since the second [City Walk Talk] was not recorded because of a malfunction of the spy cam pen, I have bought a different spy cam pen.

What to expect? The camera is invisible, so I guess that people have paranoia or fear-related thoughts like: What does this person want from me? Or: is this person crazy? So I expect to be rejected a lot when I attempt to talk to someone. Or some could think that I am coming on to them. But I also expect little wonders and unforeseen events that can happen. I suppose that more attempts of going up to people to try to talk to them, probably will result in a higher amount of success.
How do I approach a stranger? What will I ask? Who will I address? How often do I or can I make an attempt? Will it affect my mood if I fail to make a talk with a stranger? These questions still linger.

  • Expo:
  • Platoon Kunsthalle, Kolja Kugler: Afreakean Bassplayer, Berlin

imageKim Engelen, [Sun-penetrations], 16 Oct 12, Karlin Studios, Prague/Czech Republic

2 months ago

Berlin/Germany, Week 9, 2013

[City Walk Talk]

YEAH: I had a fantastic second [City Walk Talk]. The 27th of February 2013 around 13:00 I walked out of my temporarily rented apartment in Berlin Mitte with my spy cam pen on. And by the end of the street I saw two people with signs. They where from the LaRouche movement. This movement promotes a revival of classical art and a greater commitment to science; advocates the development of major economic infrastructure projects on a global scale; and calls for a reform of the world financial system to encourage investment in the physical economy and suppress financial speculation.

One of their signs showed a photograph of Martin Luther King with underneath the famous text: “I have a Dream”. The photograph next to it was more a more or less comparable photo showing Barak Obama with underneath the text: “I have a Drone”. I started to talk in German to one of the two people; a man originally from Venezuela with an intellectual level of discourse. We talked around 1 hour and the talk went from (non) tolerance, economics, music, drugs, games, art, languages, Schiller, Kant, the Unit 731 experiment to a new paradigm. The conversation more or less ended when I told him that I like all sorts of music ranging from; techno, bachata, fado, pop and R&B and that I thought it would be an impoverishment if we wouldn’t have these choices anymore. The talk ended when he said: “This might provoke you” and he accused me for being Dutch and thus a liberal. I was intrigued and wanted more information, he handed out a brochure and asked  € 100 for it, which I didn’t give.

It was exciting; at one time I thought I saw him looking at the spy cam pen and thought maybe he knows about a device like this and I am caught now. And what is going to happen now? Is he going to get aggressive, will he take it away? During the talk I was glooming of artistic happiness because my second recording was again a lucky, this one with a deep intellectual substance.

DISAPPOINTMENT: At ‘home’ I got behind the computer to upload the recordings. And found out that the files were corrupted. I tried to upload them to you tube anyway but it said “Processing of the video failed” so no luck there. I loaded them into iPhoto and it said: “Unreadable files” also no luck there. Then, against my own parameters for this project, I opened my video edit program…and…”File Error.” So no luck there neither. FUCK FUCK FUCK.

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Kim Engelen, City Walk Talks, Berlin Feb 27, 2013

2 months ago

Berlin/Germany, Week 8, 2013

Working-title [City Walk Talks] 
This week I started with a new project called City Walk Talks.
Starting parameters:

  • In the period between: 15 Feb and 15 June 2013
  • I go walking in Berlin for a minimum of 15 times 
  • In this walk I try to talk to someone I don’t know
  • The walk will be no longer then 1 hour 
  • The same day I put the recording of this on YouTube
  • What ever is recorded I don’t edit or alter

To record these body-art actions, I bought a spy camera pen. 
My first [City Walk Talk] was February the 21st. 
Area: Oranienburger Straße, Berlin

Good: Somebody addressed me
Good: The pen has recorded this
Bad: There is a lot of street noise so you don’t hear the actual talk very well. 
Bad: Also I placed the camera in the hip-pocket of my jacket and because of this you don’t see the face of the person who started his talk with me. But only his lower middle part.
See the video»

  • Read:
  • Adnan, Etel. The Cost for Love We are Not Willing to Pay. Vol. 100 Notes, 100 Thoughts: Documenta Series 006 (100 Notes - 100 Thoughts/100 Notizen - 100 Gedanken) (English and German Edition), in The Cost for Love We are Not Willing to Pay, door Etel Adnan, 19. Ostfildern: Hatje Cantz, 2011.
  • Vladimir Mayakovsky, You, 1922, read online»
  • Vladimir Mayakovsky, To his Own Beloved Self, 1916, read online»
  • Rimbaud, Memory, 1872-1873?, read online»
  • Paul Verlaine,  Les Ingénus (The Young Fools), 1844-1896, read online»
  • Sinclair Lewis, Our Mr. Wrenn: The Romantic Adventures of a Gentle Man, 1914, chapter 2-8, read online»
  • Ovid, The Ibis, about 11 AD, read online»
  • Film/Video:
  • Alison Klayman, Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry, 2012
  • Billy Wilder, Some like it hot, 1959, watch online»
  • Mary Roach: 10 things you didn’t know about orgasm, 2009, watch online»
  • Esther Perel: The secret to desire in a long-term relationship, 2013, watch online»
  • Julia Sweeney has “The Talk”, 2006, watch online»
  • Helen Fisher: Why we love, why we cheat, 2006, watch online»
  • Amy Lockwood: Selling condoms in the Congo, 2011, watch online»
  • Elizabeth Pisani: Sex, drugs and HIV — let’s get rational, 2010, watch online»
  • Hans Rosling: Religions and babies, 2012, watch online»
  • Jonathan Drori: The beautiful tricks of flowers, 2011, watch online»
  • Expo:
  • Fotografie Berlin - C/O Berlin Visual Dialogues: 
    Christer Strömholm Retrospektive, 
    Ulrich Seidl, Paradies, Laube, Liebe, Hoffnung
  • [Self-portraits] GMF-Berlin @ Weekend Club
  • Friend of whose name I forgot of unknown Heinrich:  “Bist du süß, und du siehst ja ganz knackig aus.” (English: You are cute and you look sexy.)
  • View pictures»

image
Kim Engelen, City Walk Talks, Berlin Feb 21, 2013

2 months ago

Dortmund + Berlin/Germany, Week 7, 2013 

[Bridges]
The bridge has all these elements connected to it; visual, technical, symbolical, strategical. So many factors are related to it: movies, poems, culture, logistics. It has so many possibilities to work with. When I went to Dortmund it was carnival. And just before I left I saw on Limburg TV the procession go over the Sint Servaasbrug (or the St. Servatius Bridge). I grabbed my iPhone and captured the footage from the TV screen. On my hard-disk I have all these fragments from movies and documentaries that I collected that show bridges. During my six hour drive to Berlin I video-graphed every bridge I went over and under. But next to collecting I just don’t feel like doing anything. What is happening? Am I starting to loose interest?

And I saved these messages: Five held over Ohio bridge ‘plot’. Five men, three of them self-described anarchists, are questioned over an alleged plot to blow up a bridge near Cleveland, Ohio. And The town of San Vicente del Caguan in southern Colombia is cut off after its main bridge is blown up in an attack blamed by officials on Farc rebels. But I don’t want to work with this sort of information.

I followed the news for 1 year and 3 months on immigration issues. And I stopped that blog. I need go more to the core. Elements are falling away, maybe the [Bridges] series is starting to become more elementary.

imageKim Engelen, [Bridges] Möllerbrücke No. 3, Dortmund, Germany Netherlands, 2013

3 months ago

Maasbracht/Netherlands, Week 6, 2013 

[Bridges]
Thanks to Magnus Bärtås workshop and his PhD thesis “You Told Me.” I am continuing with the idea of work stories: The story behind the artwork. I like writing this way: it is simple and fun to do. 

This week I met my best male friend JP in Maastricht. I had not planned to collect a picture of the Hoge Brug (High Bridge) in Maastricht. But walking from the parking garage to our meeting spot I crossed the Wilhelmina bridge. We met at a small ‘Grand Café’ on the Maastrichter Brugstraat (Cityname Bridgestreet), next to the Sint Servaasbrug. Together we walked over the Sint Servaas bridge towards a music shop and we or I spotted the Hoge Brug (High Bridge) in the near distance. JP made a joke: “Ah so that was your plan all along.” And I had not yet collect a picture of this bridge and so I did asked him to make a picture of me with the bridge in the background. It was windy, it was cold and he wore gloves with the fingertips chopped off of them. Also not planned but very convenient for making photographs in the cold. Spontaneously I ‘pushed’ the lantern. This was also not planned but playing with the perspective in photographs is a thing that tourists sometimes do. Think for example of tourists ‘pushing’ the Leaning Tower of Pisa in Italy. Around the last 3 photographs he became a bit touchy, he said something as: “Maybe the shop closes in the midday.” But I wanted to stretch this performative action some more. “Lets have the Hoge Bridge completely in frame.” And “There is coming a ship under the bridges.” and “Let’s try to have me pushing the lantern more perfectly.” Ai I noticed that I started to direct again, I couldn’t help it. Maybe he was grumpy because I do this? He took 7 photographs and none of them are perfect and that is also not the intention. It was a wonderful afternoon with a much-loved friend and this dear friend made this particular picture of the High Bridge in Maastricht. This comes very close to a typical holiday picture and also its production of it by the tourists. With one person directing, either the one who is pushing the button or the one who is in the photograph.

imageKim Engelen, [Bridges] Hoge Brug No. 1, Maastricht, Netherlands, 2013

3 months ago
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