Marlena von Wedel

The incredible vastness and unpredictability of Ottinger’s imagery is what makes up its quality, so any attempt to describe her work can only seem reductive. And yet it seems worthwhile to observe closely the overlapping of the queer, the ethnographic, the fictional and the documentary bundled in the artist’s incessant travel interest. Ultimately, it is precisely the entanglement of these views that is the great artistic contribution of Ottinger’s life work.

In preparation for her projects, Ottinger produces thick books, in which visual and literary snippets are collected in a cut-and-mix collage technique. Some of these only contain script, others are collections of photographs, people, objects, poems, or any information on how a certain mood might be created. Often, they are not only work books but also travel diaries with vocabulary of the other language, maps, phone numbers, important addresses or notes.

Since September 2021, argos in Brussels has been showing a five-part exhibition of Alexander Kluge’s Minutenfilme [Minute-films]. The Minutenfilme often distil multilayered themes in summary form. Alexander Kluge: “You see, the rough simplicity of a murder ballad, this popular fairground narrative, easily leads you to high scholasticism with the question “How does God work?”, to which of course no one knows the answer. To reconnect this is my true passion. In this, I’m the executive body of Benjamin, Adorno, Horkheimer and a slew of other great minds.”

Sinds september 2021 loopt in argos in Brussel een vijfdelige tentoonstelling van Alexander Kluge's Minutenfilme. De minutenfilms distilleren vaak zeer gelaagde thema’s in een kort formaat. Alexander Kluge: “U ziet dat u met de ruwe eenvoud van een moordlied, een populair kermisverhaal, gemakkelijk in de hoge scholastiek terechtkomt via de vraag “Hoe gaat God te werk?”, waarop natuurlijk niemand het antwoord weet. Dit alles opnieuw verbinden is mijn ware passie. Daarin ben ik het uitvoerend orgaan van Benjamin, Adorno, Horkheimer en een hele schare andere knappe koppen.”

Seit September 2021 zeigt das argos in Brüssel eine fünfteilige Ausstellung mit Alexander Kluge’s Minutenfilmen. In den Minutenfilmen sind oft sehr vielschichtige Themen im kurzen Format destilliert. Alexander Kluge: “Sie merken: Sie kommen mit dieser robusten Einfachheit der Moritat, also einer volkstümlichen, jahrmarktgebundenen Erzählweise ohne Weiteres in die Hochscholastik mit der Frage: “Wie arbeitet Gott?”, was ja keiner weiß. Dies wieder zu verbinden, das ist meine ganze Leidenschaft. Und da bin ich ausführendes Organ von Benjamin, Adorno, Horkheimer und einer ganzen Horde weiterer guter Geister.”