Rosa Barba
29 Oct - 20 Dec 2008
Rosa Barba
Outwardly from Earth ́s Center, 2007
16 mm film transferred to video, 22 min.
Edition of 5 + 2 a.p.
Still
Outwardly from Earth ́s Center, 2007
16 mm film transferred to video, 22 min.
Edition of 5 + 2 a.p.
Still
Rosa Barba
Outwardly from Earth’s Center
29.10. – 20.12.2008
At the same time as Matecki’s exhibition, a work by Berlin-based filmmaker Rosa Barba will be shown at carlier | gebauer for the first time in the gallery’s project space. The film “Outwardly from Earth’s Center” (2007) is Barba’s first presentation as one of the gallery’s artists. Taking historical and social facts as her starting point, Barba develops narratives that create fictional spaces composed of films, installations and publications. Here the film reels frequently form part of the material, along with the sound of the projectors. Her works should therefore often be understood as sculptures and the projectors as “witnesses” to the projected films. She frequently deploys 16mm film and projectors - media, in which in contrast to digital formats, “moving images” can still be experienced as a sequence. Barba also explores this approach to narrative as a succession of images in the way she deals with the machines projecting the images.
They are often present as bodies in the space, set opposite one another, in motion or placed along axes running through the space. The sociological and cultural studies that form the point of departure for her works move in on the intersection of the fictional and the real, ascribing equal importance to both, whilst drawing together the various tiers of the past, present and future to form an atemporal space. As a result, it becomes possible to position time and space clearly within the narration.
The underlying idea shaping Barba’s narration in “Outwardly from Earth’s Center” (2007) is based on a geological fact: metre by metre the Swedish island of Gotska Sandön is drifting away from the Swedish mainland. The film depicts the inhabitants’ laborious endeavours to halt this displacement of their island. Yet it appears impossible to situate what is going on within a clear time framework, nor does a consistent, realistic image emerge. Instead, fade-in sections of the present and past are disrupted by edited-in excerpts that cannot be precisely identified in temporal terms: various obscure acts conjure up a context with a surreal air, with real events and statements from academic experts embedded within this setting. The sound was initially generated while the film was being shot, but was then disconnected from the images during post-production and processed separately. When it is once again combined with the film, the soundtrack functions as a reinforcing, distinct commentary.
Works by Rosa Barba are currently being shown in “Italics”, the exhibition curated by Francesco Bonami in Palazzo Grassi, Venice, as well as in “Degrees of Remove” in the Sculpture Center, New York, in “Rooms look Back” at Kunsthalle Basel, and at the Torino Triennale, curated by Daniel Birnbaum.
Outwardly from Earth’s Center
29.10. – 20.12.2008
At the same time as Matecki’s exhibition, a work by Berlin-based filmmaker Rosa Barba will be shown at carlier | gebauer for the first time in the gallery’s project space. The film “Outwardly from Earth’s Center” (2007) is Barba’s first presentation as one of the gallery’s artists. Taking historical and social facts as her starting point, Barba develops narratives that create fictional spaces composed of films, installations and publications. Here the film reels frequently form part of the material, along with the sound of the projectors. Her works should therefore often be understood as sculptures and the projectors as “witnesses” to the projected films. She frequently deploys 16mm film and projectors - media, in which in contrast to digital formats, “moving images” can still be experienced as a sequence. Barba also explores this approach to narrative as a succession of images in the way she deals with the machines projecting the images.
They are often present as bodies in the space, set opposite one another, in motion or placed along axes running through the space. The sociological and cultural studies that form the point of departure for her works move in on the intersection of the fictional and the real, ascribing equal importance to both, whilst drawing together the various tiers of the past, present and future to form an atemporal space. As a result, it becomes possible to position time and space clearly within the narration.
The underlying idea shaping Barba’s narration in “Outwardly from Earth’s Center” (2007) is based on a geological fact: metre by metre the Swedish island of Gotska Sandön is drifting away from the Swedish mainland. The film depicts the inhabitants’ laborious endeavours to halt this displacement of their island. Yet it appears impossible to situate what is going on within a clear time framework, nor does a consistent, realistic image emerge. Instead, fade-in sections of the present and past are disrupted by edited-in excerpts that cannot be precisely identified in temporal terms: various obscure acts conjure up a context with a surreal air, with real events and statements from academic experts embedded within this setting. The sound was initially generated while the film was being shot, but was then disconnected from the images during post-production and processed separately. When it is once again combined with the film, the soundtrack functions as a reinforcing, distinct commentary.
Works by Rosa Barba are currently being shown in “Italics”, the exhibition curated by Francesco Bonami in Palazzo Grassi, Venice, as well as in “Degrees of Remove” in the Sculpture Center, New York, in “Rooms look Back” at Kunsthalle Basel, and at the Torino Triennale, curated by Daniel Birnbaum.