David Shrigley, ‘A Swan’
Monthly Archives: October 2012
Timm Ulrichs
Timm Ulrichs, ‘Der erste sitzende Stuhl (nach langem Stehen sich zur Ruhe setzend)’ (1970)
Transl.: ‘The first chair sitting down (relaxing after standing for a long time)’
Ján Mancuška
Ján Mancuška, ‘800 Ways to Describe a Chair’ (2004)
Multiple gunshots are taken at a chair sitting against a wall. After the wall has been marked, the chair is removed, leaving its silhouette behind.
Sophie Giraux
Sophie Giraux, ‘Hat’s gemacht’
(Transl.: ‘EVERYONE SAID IT’S NOT POSSIBLE. THEN SOMEONE CAME, HE DIDN’T KNOW THAT AND HE DID IT’)
Catalin Mitulescu
Catalin Mitulescu, ‘Cum mi-am petrecut sfarsitul lumii’ (The way I spent the end of the world) (2006)
Tragi-comic coming-of-age tale, set in 1989 Romania, which follows 17 year old Eva and her younger brother Lilu. After knocking down a bust of Ceausescu by accident, Eva is sent to a technical school where she meets Andrei, with whom she plans to escape communist Romania by swimming across the Danube into Yugoslavia and relocate to Italy. Meanwhile, Lilu and his friends volunteer for a children’s choir scheduled to sing for Ceausescu, hoping this will give them a chance to assassinate the dictator.
Alex van Warmerdam
Alex van Warmerdam, ‘De Noorderlingen’ (‘The Northerners’) (1992)
A surreal black comedy set in a decrepit 1960’s housing development. When his mother is drawn into sainthood and the resulting frustrations of his father become too difficult to manage, Thomas, a young boy, becomes obsessed with events on the broadcast news. The liberation of the Belgian Congo is taking place and Thomas becomes Lumumba, one of the contenders as the Congo’s new leader. He is encouraged in this escapism by Plagge, the postman who reads all the mail and knows all of the bizzarre and intimate secrets of the eccentric inhabitants of the estate.
