2010, video installation, life-sized projection with sound, HD video, 1280 x 720 px, 16:9, PAL, stereo, 15’00’’ loop. Collaboration with Hagen Betzwieser.
Kathrin Schlegel was one of the four artists invited to reflect upon the oeuvre of the Surinamese author, poet and performer Edgar Cairo, in the context of the commemorative exhibition Het lied der vervreemding (The song of alienation). Schlegel and Betzwieser created a video depicting a black man standing in a colourless décor wearing a medieval suit of armour. Instead of handling a sword he is making giant soap bubbles filled with white fog that float off into space. The nonsensical ambiguities of solid and ephemeral materials, historical and temporary entities, toughness and fragility, playfulness and aggression, communal song and alienation, leave room for not only visual enjoyment and wonder, but also for thoughtful contemplation.
Chasing the Ephemeral, RC II