16 mm film, colour, no sound, 4:3, 4 min
More than two hours of 16mm original footage has been trimmed to 4 minutes. In the multi-part project P.O.V. (Point Of View) pictorial spaces and boundaries of the subjective camera are examined based on the amateur footage from the Second World Warshot by cavalry captain Frhr. Harald von Vietinghofi-Riesch.
P.O.V., 2016
video installation consisting of 7 pieces
GermanEnglish
Using the material as an example, von Wedemeyer examines pictorial spaces and boundaries of the subjective camera at war. The historical shots are compared, analyzed and made tangible by way of an experimental presentation. The examination is made by means of an analysis of the filmed objects, places, points of view and duration of view as well as of other film-specific coordinates. Von Wedemeyer here investigates, who is behind the camera and which information can a subjective view provide at war.
The 16mm material serves as a basis for the most recent media space installations. Such as in the work Against the point of view, 2016, where one scene of the historic film footage by Harald von Vietinghoff-Riesch is isolated and reconstructed in a computer game environment in the manner of the “Virtual Battlefields” in order to then allow alternative courses of the historic event.
In the two video essays Die Pferde des Rittmeisters, 2016 and Im Angesicht, 2016 entirely different motifs are reassembled. In the first work, horses become the central protagonists of the war machine, in the second, the cameraman‘s view of civilians, prisoners of war and Wehrmacht soldiers becomes apparent, and the perpetrator‘s perspective is made tangible.
Was man nicht sieht, 2016 presents a conversation with the literary scholar, cultural theorist and writer Klaus Theweleit, the director of Neuer Berliner Kunstverein, Marius Babias and Clemens von Wedemeyer himself, in which the historical footage is commented while viewing it and aspects such as the ethnographic view, soldiers as tourists and the crimes of the Wehrmacht are analyzed.
The other video works in the exhibition reflect the film in the continuity of previous wars and reveal how in the film footage memories of the amateur filmmakers construct themselves. Ohne Titel (Alles), 2016 shows the more than three-hour long 16mm original footage trimmed to four minutes.
Documentation of Clemens von Wedemeyer's solo exhibition at Neuer Berlin Kunstverein 2016.
16 mm film transferred to video, colour, no sound, 4:3, 7 min
The Wehrmacht officer's view of civilians and prisoners of war in the occupied territories. In the multi-part project P.O.V. (Point Of View) pictorial spaces and boundaries of the subjective camera are examined based on the amateur footage from the Second World Warshot by cavalry captain Frhr. Harald von Vietinghofi-Riesch.
video, colour, sound, 4:3, 42 min
A conversation between the cultural theorist Klaus Theweleit, the director of Neuer Berliner Kunstverein, Marius Babias and Clemens von Wedemeyer, in which the historical footage is analyzed while viewing it and aspects such as the ethnographic view, soldiers as tourists and the crimes of the Wehrmacht are discussed. In the multi-part project P.O.V. (Point Of View) pictorial spaces and boundaries of the subjective camera are examined based on the amateur footage from the Second World Warshot by cavalry captain Frhr. Harald von Vietinghofi-Riesch.
16 mm film transferred to video, b&w, no sound, 4:3, 8 min
The shots from the Ukrainian town were slowed down and technically stabilized. Transcripts from the war diaries of the IV Army Corps and the 17th Army, staging map. In the multi-part project P.O.V. (Point Of View) pictorial spaces and boundaries of the subjective camera are examined based on the amateur footage from the Second World Warshot by cavalry captain Frhr. Harald von Vietinghofi-Riesch.
video, colour, no sound, 16:9, 5 min
How, within the footage, memories of past wars overlap with the Second World War. In the multi-part project P.O.V. (Point Of View) pictorial spaces and boundaries of the subjective camera are examined based on the amateur footage from the Second World Warshot by cavalry captain Frhr. Harald von Vietinghofi-Riesch.
video, colour, sound, 16:9, 18 min
In Against the Point of View a scene from the historic footage is reconstructed as a computer game environment in the way of a "virtual battlefield" with an alternative course of events. In the multi-part project P.O.V. (Point Of View) pictorial spaces and boundaries of the subjective camera are examined based on the amateur footage from the Second World Warshot by cavalry captain Frhr. Harald von Vietinghofi-Riesch. P.O.V. has been realized in collaboration with Eiko Grimberg.
16 mm film transferred to video, colour, sound, 4:3, 10 min
The horses of the Wehrmacht and civilians fleeing from it in a picture of war. In the multi-part project P.O.V. (Point Of View) pictorial spaces and boundaries of the subjective camera are examined based on the amateur footage from the Second World Warshot by cavalry captain Frhr. Harald von Vietinghofi-Riesch.
Clemens von Wedemeyer
Clemens von Wedemeyer, born in 1974 in Göttingen, Germany, currently lives and works in Berlin and holds a professorship for media art at the Academy of Fine Arts Leipzig. The artist and filmmaker studied photography and media at the Fachhochschule Bielefeld and the Academy of Fine Arts Leipzig and graduated as Meisterschüler of Astrid Klein in 2005. Clemens von Wedemeyer participated in group shows such as the 1st Moscow Biennale (2005), the 4th Berlin Biennale (2006), Skulptur Projekte Münster in 2007, the 16th Biennale of Sydney (2008) and dOCUMENTA (13) (2012). He had solo shows among others at MoMA PS1, New York, ARGOS Centre for Art and Media, Brussels, the Barbican Art Centre, London, Frankfurter Kunstverein, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, and Hamburger Kunsthalle. “ESIOD 2015” premiered at the 66. Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin (Berlinale) in 2016.
Most recently Wendemeyer´s work has been displayed in solo exhibitions such as Im Kontext der Sammlung: Clemens von Wendemeyer (Kunstmuseum Lichtenstein, Vaduz 2023) and BAKHMUT (Albertinum Dresden 2023).
- Anna Boghiguian
- Candice Breitz
- Marco A. Castillo
- CATPC
- Alice Creischer
- Chto Delat
- Clegg & Guttmann
- Eugenio Dittborn
- Heinrich Dunst
- Anna Ehrenstein
- León Ferrari
- Peter Friedl
- Sophie Gogl
- Barbara Hammer
- Ramon Haze
- Hiwa K
- Simon Lehner
- Renzo Martens
- Chris Martin
- Frédéric Moser & Philippe Schwinger
- Oswald Oberhuber
- Mario Pfeifer
- Dierk Schmidt
- Santiago Sierra
- Michael E. Smith
- Franz Erhard Walther
- Clemens von Wedemeyer
- Tobias Zielony