STANDIG AUF DEM SPRUNG SEIN

of ODENBACH Marcel

GERMANY, 1995, 00:05:36

Production : ODENBACH Marcel, UNO / H.f.G. - Karlsruhe
Genre : Video art
Keyword : Human rights, War, Memory

Summary :
The video forms a subtle montage of images that are always heterogeneous, which cancel chronological time in favour of a synchronised presentation of events. ODENBACH used material of his own making, staged scenes, and old and new archive footage in colour or black-and-white. The opening frame of a jumping soldier immediatly brings home the title ["Sprung" means "jump"]. Subsequently, you see a man packing his suitcase, images of marathon runners seen from behind, the blue and white flag of the United Nations with images filtering through of people in critical situations, fleeing, in war... There is no voice-over, text, nor dialogue. With the exception of a fragment of classical music, the sounds in the film all belong to critical situations : ominous rumbling, sirens, shots... The images which run into each other draw on individual as well as collective history and memories. ODENBACH reveals a humanity adrift whereby the references to the United Nations can be nothing other than equivocal.

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