KasselerKunstVereinsHeim - Program June - Bjørn Melhus
Saturday, June 30, 2007, 8 p.m.
Bjørn Melhus (D)
"Wer sind wir denn wer? - von dem neuen Selbstbewusstsein der 50er und wie Tuffi, Knut und Brownie zu Weltruhm kamen"
Lecturesperformance
Bjørn Melhus is not a showman, although he plays all the
characters in his videos and video installations himself: children, cowboys,
girls, stars and starlets. He takes them from the media and gives them
famous voices (James Dean or Marilyn Monroe, for example) and his "play
acting" gives them a second reality. This way the entry of the master
of ceremonies in "The Oral Thing" (2001) becomes the epiphany
of a divine instance and the questioning of the contestants becomes a public
confession at which the applauding audience experiences as much pleasure
at the deed as at the penance.
Bjørn Melhus is interested in the degree of reality of such constructions
of personal and social egos. He takes advantage of video portals such as
YouTube or the virtual world Second Life not only as archives, a source
of material and an invitation to steal, but also as serious partners for
the description of a reality that defines itself as something between the
material and the immaterial, the physically human and the metaphysically
superhuman. It is even more important, then, to establish who their political
and ethical authorities are.
It has become obvious to Bjørn Melhus that the 1950s have become
more and more the centre of attention - not only for R. M. Buergel
and his documenta 12. "We are somebody again!" was the proud
motto of the day in Germany. "But who are we then?" asks Bjørn
Melhus at the Kunstvereinsheim.
*1966 in Kirchheim/Teck. Study
art: HBK Braunschweig. Professor for art/visual realties: Kunsthochschule
Kassel.
Lives and works: Berlin, Kassel.
Curator: Bernhard Balkenhol
