TROUBLED OBJECTS
2022
Full HD video | 16:9 | 39.28 min. | color | sound
In Troubled Objects, five different art objects from the twentieth and twenty-first centuries—by Tony Smith, Jean Arp, Franz West, Louise Bourgeois, and John McCracken—are placed in the historical city of Vienna known as the cradle of Freud’s psychoanalysis. These objects lie on the psychoanalytic couch, revealing insights into the depths of their troubled psyches through free association in various spatial settings. As icons of art history, they bear a tremendous burden they simply cannot endure. This overwhelming pressure, tied to their supposedly infinitely significant existence, has led to the manifestation of various pathological symptoms of different extents: from narcissistic personality disorder to panic attacks, from social phobia to depression, the analysands are tormented. Their pitiful monologues express their unique personalities, transforming the initially lifeless objects into animistic agencies from the very first scenes of the film. The historically outdated patriarchal theory of Freud’s psychoanalysis is playfully deconstructed, while critical aspects of art reception are politically negotiated within the context of contemporary feminist and queer questions. Through various architecturally significant interiors, referencing both Freud and the fin de siècle era, and connecting them to the present, the film tells not only the story of the objects but also a narrative about the history of the city’s architecture. The buildings of Otto Wagner or Joseph Maria Olbrich play as significant a role in the film as design classics like the “divan,” as Freud called the piece of furniture that became a symbol of psychoanalysis. The film moves through grand Viennese interiors, tracing a lineage of architectural thought that historically parallels psychoanalytic theory.
Written / Directed / Camera / Edited: Kay Walkowiak
Voices: Christopher Roth, Sarah Ware, Bernhard Ach, Nikola Hansalik, Ella Gallieni, Andreas Wesle
Voice Recording / Sound Mix: Alexander Reitterer, Nigel Brown
Script Advisers: Jacques Carrio, Bettina Karner
Object Fabrication: Hannah Breitfuss, Valentin Ruhry, Christopher Steinweber, Ferdinand Probst, Franz Wanka
Set Producer: Barbara Probst
Color Grading: Andi Winter
Special Thanks: Wolfgang Lehrner, Lisi Lang, Vinzenz Mädel, Katharina & Raphael Ledóchowski, Sandra & Avram Berkson, Julian Walkowiak, Fernanda Aparecida De Souza, Itai Margula
Supported by: Federal State of Austria, Province of Salzburg, City of Salzburg, City of Vienna
Written / Directed / Camera / Edited: Kay Walkowiak
Voices: Christopher Roth, Sarah Ware, Bernhard Ach, Nikola Hansalik, Ella Gallieni, Andreas Wesle
Voice Recording / Sound Mix: Alexander Reitterer, Nigel Brown
Script Advisers: Jacques Carrio, Bettina Karner
Object Fabrication: Hannah Breitfuss, Valentin Ruhry, Christopher Steinweber, Ferdinand Probst, Franz Wanka
Set Producer: Barbara Probst
Color Grading: Andi Winter
Special Thanks: Wolfgang Lehrner, Lisi Lang, Vinzenz Mädel, Katharina & Raphael Ledóchowski, Sandra & Avram Berkson, Julian Walkowiak, Fernanda Aparecida De Souza, Itai Margula
Supported by: Federal State of Austria, Province of Salzburg, City of Salzburg, City of Vienna
︎ Archive Film