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THE OBJECT
2015
Full HD video | 16:9 | 8.07 min. | color | sound


The film The Object shows the creation of the minimalist object that in the work The Ritual is installed on the banks of the Ganges. It provides a glimpse into a carpentry shop in which the sculpture is manufactured by a local craftsman according to the specifications of the artist. The individual work stages are preserved in detailed views that, thanks to nearly tactile camera work, make the materiality of the object tangible. The ostensibly documentary approach turns out to be a subtle allegory of the art-historical history of ideas of modernity, particularly of the conflict between the modernist concept of art and Minimal art—which is ultimately also referred to by the aesthetic of the completed object. Minimal art turned away from the metaphorically or metaphysically charged form and often crafted its objects out of simple, industrially produced materials. Cheap plywood boards are used to make the object in the film as well, and it is presumably no coincidence that they are stamped with the word “Modern.” Through the painting of the work, a neutral specific object is created, one that—like the objects of Minimal art—is impressive for its clear physical form, but remains confronted with the same problem that was also faced by artworks of Minimal art: instead of the purely phenomenological observational approach that was desired, they were very much charged with significance and endowed with a mystical aura. This is a fate that the object of the film faces as well, but in a different cultural-historical context. In the film The Ritual, it is integrated into the everyday ritual practices of the pilgrims, who transform it into a “sacred” object.



Concept / Camera / Edited: Kay Walkowiak
Postproduction: Nigel Brown
Production Assistant: Rajkumar Singh
Special Thanks: Ajay Pandey
Supported by: Austrian Cultural Forum New Delhi, Province of Salzburg 



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