A poetry film based on MAUTHAUSEN Cantata by Mikis Theodorakis (music) & camp survivor and founder of the modern Greek post-war theatre Iakovos Kambanellis (poetry), reinterpreted by Aristarchos Papadaniel (voice) & Aris Zervas (cello). The new MAUTHAUSEN recordings were the last official releases, released with the permission of world-famous Greek composer and political activist Mikis Theodorakis (ZORBA, Z) just one month before his death at the age of 96 in 2021. In this short film we watch part of the rehearsal at the Greek Memorial in Mauthausen, on the 14th of May 2022, preparing for the live performance that took place the day after on the Mauthausen International Liberation & Commemoration Day 2022 in Austria.

The background:
4700 Greeks were interned and tortured in the Austrian Nazi concentration camp Mauthausen. 3700 died in the concentration camp. 1000 Greeks survived Mauthausen.

Between 1947 and 1951, more than 80 000 Greek men, women and children were deported to the isle of Makronissos (Greece) in reeducation camps created to ‘fight the spread of Communism’. Among those exiles were a number of writers and poets, including Yannis Ritsos and Tassos Livaditis. Despite the deprivation and torture, they managed to write poems which describe the struggle for survival in this world of internment. These texts, some of them buried in the camps, were later found. «Like Lions of stone at the gateway of night» blends these poetic writings with the reeducation propaganda speeches constantly piped through the camps’ loudspeakers. Long tracking shots take us on a trance-like journey through the camp ruins, interrupted along the way by segments from photographic archives. A cinematic essay, which revives the memory of forgotten ruins and a battle lost.

Director’s Note

One usually writes poems to celebrate the nature, to express feelings of love or existential sufferings. But rare are the ones who wrote poetry behind barbed wires, under torture. The texts written by the poets of Makronissos rise voices of resistance and bursts of strength; their poetical chronicles of the life of the exiles tell the terror and the survival in this barbaric laboratory entirely devoted to the “mental reprogramming” of communist resistants; they express the ubiquitous fear, the never ending wait, the thirst which consumes the bodies and the fatiguing stone duties. They talk about the nights full of the screams of the those who became insane under the tortures…

When I read those poems, I saw images of a terrifying past that I wanted to confront with the nowadays pictures of the ruins of the camps on Makronissos. I wanted to search in those heaps of stones and concrete for the “prints” of what happened there, to confront those “prints” with the shouting in the loudspeakers that crackle the fascist propaganda, to superpose those mental images with the pictures of the exiles.

The film fights against forgetting, at a time when nauseant nationalist fervours seem to re-emerge in Greece…

"We Are the Dinosaur" is a street-rant lament for the state of the planet delivered to an unsuspecting public seemingly content to yawn and go about its business while the Poet bumrushes the Courthouse, whispers in the ear of the Anonymous Businessman, suggests a cannibal diet at the site of the Nation's first capital, takes flight at the Oculus near the World Trade Center, and swims against the implacable tide of humanity in Times Square. With a wrench-raucous score by Marc Ribot, energized-intrusion cinematography by director H. Paul Moon, and an over-the-top-and-then-some performance by poet Bob Holman, this poem promises to either explode the dead-soul reactions of the populace to climate crisis or become a deconstructive language bomb that blasts open the Gates to Kingdom Come.

The poetry clip DICTATE is a multimedia realisation of the poetry slam poem of the same name by Peter Panisch using moving image collages and found footage as well as graphic "frame by frame" drawings. At its core, DICTATE deals with the tension between external and self-inflicted guilt in a hyper-complex world characterised by multiple crises. The clip describes the dwindling connection between man and his environment and between man and man as the cause of this. It is timeless and at the same time red-hot.

White floor, white walls. White is the paper before words are written on it. White emerges when colored lights merge. The white room holds next to nothing, and yet, outlets and balls and next to everything I am. Except my shadow, that I have cast. My lyrical Self watches her shadow as it wanders through existential language.

sentences is based on sentences from the book with the same title by Cia Rinne. In sentences, it is the sentence as a linguistic unit itself that reflects on its purpose and position.

---
this sentence is looking for the ideal reader
this sentences is a lifetime sentence
this sentence wishes it were written by somebody else
---

sentences was published as an artist book in an edition of 100 copies by Forlaget Gestus in Copenhagen 2019, and shortlisted for the artist book prize Prix du livre d'artiste Bob Calle in 2021.
 

1. Theme: Dream in a dream versus Dream and reality I dream my dream and stand in the shadow of reality. Tension field of dreaming Tension of a twilight slumber status quo, in a meditative state of mind.

2. Introduction: a clear beginning and elaboration
Clarity and Lucidity: The reality of sleeping and dreaming.
The term "lucid" is the lucid state in which the dreamer finds himself.
In a lucid dream, you know you're dreaming. The Dutch writer and psychiatrist Frederik van Eeden coined this term in the early 19th century to emphasize the clarity of this kind of dream. Compared to a normal dream, the lucid dream is much more like everyday reality. Images are concrete, colors are clear, sounds are clear, objects are tangible.

3. Love dream, my interpretation of 'my dream' in short
From a child’s point of view, you choose to hold ‘you’ in my dreams, because in my dreams you are constantly there, for a very long time. Dreams about love can reflect some things you don't have in your waking life, and you would love to have them. Love dreams are usually a reflection of your own fantasies and desires. These dreams seem to be the only way to have what you really want. In most cases, dreams about love are caused by love that you feel in your heart in real life. You are going through a period of joy and happiness, so it can also be manifested, in your dreams.

4. Concept: I’m (singing) in a dream mode / dream mood
My conscious mind: The image of my consciousness. Is it an image as a mirror image, or a dream, in which I consciously want to lose myself? A stage of saying goodbye is another image of being. I no longer get to what I have experienced emotionally and sensory, which has been so decisive for who I am. The once real lies far away at the bottom of a mirror image of my consciousness. It determines me subconsciously. An unattainable desire and I want to evaporate in a dream.

THEY WENT TO SEA is inspired by Edward Lear's limerick, The Jumblies. The poem is a story of adventure and risk-taking, where a group of people sets out to explore the world in a sieve, defying conventional wisdom and expectations. The poem's themes can be seen as a metaphor for the human experience of migration, which often involves leaving behind the familiar and venturing into the unknown. Yola, a visual artist collaborated with choreographer Małgorzata Dzierzon and the dance company Fertile Ground to create an abstract composition. The dancers move to the rhythm of the music, surrounded by a symbolic sea generated by an algorithm created in Touch Designer. The algorithm uses the dancers' movements and the music's frequency to generate real-time dynamic graphic waves, which can change with each performance.The ocean is portrayed metaphorically, representing the choices we make in life. We can either sink or rise above our problems, and the journey is what matters most.

After learning to swim at age 42, I was determined that my daughter does not waste her life fearing large bodies of water like I did. I wrote her this poem with that mission in mind, but like all my poems, things got a little out of hand.

In Imaginings a group of six performers (Kitchen’s Light), address viewers directly and share, individually and collectively, their struggles and dreams in poetic self-portraits. Against a background of suppression of deaf people and signed languages, these ‘signed word’ pieces of a new Deaf generation emanate confidence and empowerment. At the same time, they evoke the vulnerabilities that go with being different, confronting viewers implicitly in their openness. In the split-screen opening sequence, the performers lead the viewer into their world, which usually remains ‘unheard’. Imaginings shows sign language in poetic form, and reveals the power and beauty of Deaf culture for signing and non-signing viewers alike.

What if, to be able to heal the world, one must look for answers in an era when rationality was not the only compass that scholars could follow? The artists Nasrine Kheltent and Abdellah M. Hassak together with director Sophie Soukias rely on the dance of elements and the music of the universe to write new narratives, but perhaps not as new as we may like to believe. With the collaboration of dancer Marah Haj Hussein.This short film is one part of a trilogy '3 Tales of Halaqat'.

"Daughters* disposing of the commandment of shame." A church as a performance venue where lust and consumption, power and submission are embodied as "fall of man" by a shadow figure and moving serpentine bodies. 

Lust, power and shame. What is hidden behind this? What does the "sinful", fallen serpent body hide? And what happens when one accuses? What happens when daughter* accuses against the order of the father?

A video performance about violence, guilt, shame, sexuality and gender roles with words, music and dance. The text gathers thoughts, fragments, miniatures and set pieces based on the own experiences as an uncaring* daughter.

This poetry film takes you into the journey of a woman's awakening, it is a visual representation that aims to cover and symbolise women stepping into a womanhood that is not built on the foundation of abuse (physical, sexual, emotional). In the end, we see a woman standing, basking in light, freedom from the burdens of existing through a womanhood that is oppressive.

Idle Worship is a spoken word piece dedicated to women who have to (re)de-fine themselves and womanhood. To you, woman: When the foundation of the woman you have built with the scripts of the patriarchy is shaken, dethroning the men you have placed at the centre of your womanhood, I hope you crown yourself as king.

This contemporary re-imagining of an Ancient Greek myth, told in the languages of poetry, music and dance, is a story about consequences and their potential immeasurable reach. Athena doesn't understand how powerful she truly is, and Tiresias doesn't understand how his actions might affect others. One brief moment that passes between the two characters blows both these truths open. What Athena Saw When Tiresias Looked retells the Ancient Greek myth with contemporary relevance, exploring issues around consent, disability, and gender expectations. The film, directed by Douglas Tyrrell Bunge, weaves together poetry by Ellen Renton, an atmospheric soundtrack from Lord of the Isles, and the work of dancers Anu Walters and Douglas Reddan, to create a dynamic account of two young people bound together by their shame, and their mistakes.

Two lost souls in London. Connected through a poem in German and the question of how they will meet.

fully good fully late fully bad fully new

video, text, voice, sound: jörg piringer

The idea for the film came from Goran Bećirčić’s text “I Want to be Anna Netrebko!”, in which he examines the topic of citizenship through the protagonist’s inner monologue. As a migrant living in Austria for over 20 years, he knows all too well what it’s like to have to renew your visa every year and have limited access to the labour market. Acquiring citizenship may seem like a way to go around these obstacles. But Austria, with its restrictive citizenship laws, makes this very difficult for most people. Dealing with desire, powerlessness, inner resistance and redemptive absurdity, the text provides an insight into this topic from an unabashedly personal and autobiographical perspective. I found this insight quite valuable and I wanted to make it tangible through the audiovisual possibilities of film as a medium. It was very important to me to find a visual and auditory language that does not stifle the text, but carries it well and gives this important topic an appropriate framework.

After their 15 minutes of fame are over, former Austria's Next Top Model participants meet in a casting. Joint conversations during breaks about their experiences on the reality TV show provide insights into their motivation and views on an industry that sells beauty as a standardized consumer good. The spirit of Venus, goddess of beauty and poems by female poets of the early 20th century break through the supercooled visual worlds and mechanical processes and point to the different perceptions of aesthetics in past ages and a possible future. The cinematic interpretation of an ordinary casting tape.

"Repeat" is an experimental poetry film (festival production) that brings together the poem "light from the greenery" by Austrian author Sigrun Höllrigl with Indian actress Savita Rani. In conjunction with the music and sound composition by Michael Fischer, as well as the voices of Christian Reiner and Apollina Smaragd, the film delves into the enigmatic world between déjà vu and jamais vu.

My work explores the relationship between the Military-Industrial Complex, recycling culture and the world of dreams. With influences as diverse as Tarkovsky and Salla Tykka, new variations are created from both simple and complex layers. Ever since my beginning as videopoet I have been fascinated by the essential unreality of meaning. What starts out as yearning soon becomes finessed into a cacophony of defeat, leaving only a sense of nihilism and the dawn of a new reality. As momentary forms become transformed through boundaries and personal practice, the viewer is left with a hymn to the possibilities of our culture.

The typographic animation shows war as the enemy of man. The motif consists of poem fragments of the onomatopoeic poem schtzngrmm by Ernst Jandl. The typographically depicted motifs are representative of the body and the psyche. Heart and brain are destroyed by hissing sounds reminiscent of grenades as well as gunshots, shattered by sounds of war, the connection between brain and body is cut and finally buried by gunshots. An attempt to combine Ernst Jandls play with language with the element of space and movement.

A poem about Adapting (regardless of gender and political orientation).

The animation "unto you" visualizes a poem by the Austrian philosopher, poet and actress Melitta Urbancic, née Grünbaum (1902-1984). She is known today primarily within the field of exile studies. In 1938 she fled with her family from the Nazis to Iceland. The poem is addressed to the artist's lifemate, the composer Viktor Urbancic, who died early in Iceland. The sensitive music was composed by the Icelandic composer Ragnheiður Erla Björnsdóttir.

The film is the visualization and setting of a poem of mine, it is about a vision I really experienced some years ago: After an intense conversation with a friend about the universe and the emergence of life, I suddenly saw bright yellow nets floating in the corner of a room in my old apartment - it was such a funny-absurd image that several artistic works were/are created about it.

Holladio hods gsogt“ is a music video project in which women* have their say and take a stand on everyday sexism, misogyny and sexual harassment. The intention is to create awareness for the topics of catcalling and sexual harassment in public space.

The whole extent of globalization and capitalism is often reflected in day-to-day actions. A man leaves his picturesque mountain farm every day to go to the neighboring small town to assist in the production, in several shifts at a conveyor belt, of articles that - in both his own immediate neighborhood and on the other side of the world - can cause extreme distress. A boy who observes these things happening, and who is not impervious to their effects. A cautionary narrator who shows that the words of Erich Fried, now more than fifty years old, are more relevant and more far-reaching than ever.

An anagram is a poem formed by rearranging the letters of a different word or phrase. The anagram in this poetry film is based on a verse from Emma McGordon's poem MAGNETIC: "The tongue is a needle. And I am true North. Telling lies." On the shores of the Gili Islands several endangered species of sea turtles lay their eggs. Stop climate change now.

My contribution to the debate on mandatory vaccination in Germany.

A picture is a picture is a picture is a picture. It’s a language, an expression. Can it be a voice? It’s a possibility, it’s power. Does it bring responsibility? It’s abstraction and truth. May we, through alienation, see beauty in the terrible? Do we even have to, in order to step in front of ourselves?

A performative poetry film about what nobody wants to see. Childish paper dolls and tableaus thrown together in collage aesthetics with symbolism of war, politics and religion. A poem referencing the siege of Leningrad. Suffragette colors, Aileen Wuornos glorification, and wonderful landscapes combined with Nazi uniforms. Nothing is innocent.

For years a wanderer steered clear of his home village but now the time has come to get closer again. However his old homeland welcomes him in silence. After bumping into an old acquaintance the silence might be broken.

„Theres Always Something“ is both the name of the film and the poem by Micha Kunze. It’s a film about depression. About getting lost in the own mind. Not coming to conclusions but trying to fight without drowning in pain and sorrow. It’s like an inventory of the feelings of a person who just hit rock bottom – and doesn’t even know it yet.

In "Bergpfirsich / Flat Peach" a self with mountain peach and wallet meanders in response to "Pulse", the corpus, which lies white, powerful, in tubes and monstrous, or "pulses" and eludes a concrete determination as an object: Fabric tarpaulins, industrial impression, corporeal. "Bergpfirsich" speaks to this "Pulse" object in a flow of language created for it, bringing the two together. Sub- and objects exchange positions and lead a life of their own as things. The I disappears, the functional determinacy of the words as for "door" and "window" likewise, the mountain peach and the wallet remain. And the money of a baker.

Im Begriff zu verschwinden is an experimental poetry film in which minimalist poems and dream-like aestheticized and expressive images enter into a dialogue with each other, a silent poetic-philosophical meditation on loss and transience, grief and death, light and darkness, on speechlessness and the necessity of language, a melancholic journey into the abyss of 'transcendental homelessness' in which man loses himself.

One of the most vivid memories I have of my childhood is the fear of death. The fear of disappearing, of becoming nothing. In 2019 my grandmother and aunt passed away. This terrible pain of losing them both led me to remember and acknowledge my primal fear as a child. This pain made me look deep inside myself. In my culture, family plays an essential role in the healing process after the death of a loved one. I was in Germany, far away from my home. I was feeling deep loneliness, so difficult to bear. But I wanted to heal, and I wanted to do it in a sincere way. Inspiration took tangible form, transformed into traces, into symbologies and coded messages that guided me using the rhythm and symbolism of nature.

"D Frou Bovary de Porrentruy," a bored, shopaholic housewife who seeks to escape the bourgeois cage of a small Jura town through online dating.
On her spoken word CD "50 Hertz", Ariane von Graffenried tells stories of eight historical or fictional "heroines", that means women whose stories map the basic patterns of a long, mostly nameless and unwritten her-story. The texts virtuously mix German, Swiss German, English, and French in a  language or spoken word play.