Adolf Winkelmann: adolf winkelmann kassel 9.12.67 11.54 h

Videostill aus Adolf Winkelmann, adolf winkelmann kassel 9.12.67 11.54 h, 1967, 07:51 Min., Video, S/W, Ton. Courtesy of the artist

- selected by Inke Arns (HMKV) to mark the 80th birthday of Adolf Winkelmann -

My film “adolf winkelmann kassel 9. 12. 67 11.54 h” is an attempt to use the reproduction of an action to reflect elements that highlight reactive tendencies in relation to the act of filming and the “strangeness” of this act. The specific behaviour in front of the camera is well known; to adress it would be trivial. This becomes clear, for example, in the tram conductor’s joy at being filmed. In the presetation of my performance (and, of course, in the performance itself), these reactions are linked to behaviours that arise from situations which elude conventional films and which reveal theirpolitically relevant aspects. Objects and occurrences that defy conventional categorisation (namely: the long-haired, oddly bespectacled and unusually loaded with equipment in pre-Christmas Kassel), which are difficult to fit into a familiar framework of meaning, are stared at, laughed at or even insulted. The film’s acoustic component, the almost sacred-sounding tone, is likely to alienate the behaviour depicted and make it appear as the ‘strange’ thing that it really is.

Text: Adolf Winkelmann

 

Adolf Winkelmann

Adolf Winkelmann, filmmaker, director, media artist, author and inventor, born in 1946 in Hallenberg in the Sauerland region, grew up in Dortmund and studied art in Kassel.
In 1967, Winkelmann surprised the world with the first selfie video. At festivals in Knokke, Rotterdam, New York and Paris, he is regarded as a leading figure in European experimental film. He won the Josef von Sternberg Prize in Mannheim and the “Grand Prize of Oberhausen”.
In 1975, he returned to the Ruhr region. It was here that he made his first feature films, “Die Abfahrer” and “Jede Menge Kohle”, both of which were awarded the Federal Film Prize. In 1993, he conceived and founded Europe’s first digital film sound studio in Dortmund, in the former machine hall of the Dorstfeld colliery. For his international TV thrillers “The Bodyguard” and “The Last Courier”, he was awarded the Grimme Prize in 1989 and 1996.
At EXPO 2000 in Hanover, Winkelmann portrayed the German federal states in his film installation “DEUTSCHLAND.PICT” across 35 screens. His two-part TV film “Contergan – A Single Tablet” was awarded the German Television Prize, the Austrian Lola, the Golden Camera and the Bambi in 2008.
For the Dortmunder U, Centre for Art and Creativity, he created the moving-image light sculpture “Flying Images”, which he has been continuously developing since 2010. His most recent film appearance was in 2016 with his highly acclaimed adaptation of the novel “Junges Licht” by Ralf Rothmann.
Winkelmann is a member of the German Academy of Performing Arts, a member of the European Film Academy, and a founding member of the German Film Academy in Berlin. In recognition of his outstanding work in the media, he was awarded the Order of Merit of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia in 1996 and the Federal Cross of Merit on Ribbon in 1999.

The HMKV extends its warmest congratulations to the filmmaker and creator of the Fliegende Bilder at the Dortmunder U!