Agricola de Cologne, Germany
WOW.11 / Ukraine @ International BarCamp – KARAZIN MEDIA SYMPOSIUM – December 16, 2017
CENTER FOR MEDIA COMMUNICATIONS AND VISUAL STUDIES School of Sociology – V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University
Wilfried Agricola de Cologne & artvideoKOELN
are happy to be part of the Organization Committee of the Symposium above and contribute to the symposium via Skype, respectively a video presentation of
The WOW Point of View.
Film created by media artist Agricola de Cologne, based on the artist’s poem and voice performance of the same name created and executed in 2001.
The work combines DaDa like poetic texts, vector grafics and musical components created by the artist himself.
voice and sound performance by Wilfried Agricola de Cologne
The video is representing a reconstruction of the piece originally programmed in Flash (Macromedia) ( developed according the principle of SAMAC /Simultaneous Associative Media Art Composing/ which describes Agricola’s individual way of experimental electronic writing: words, sound, images, animation, music and voice performance are developed simultaneously –depending on each other – in one long single process= – as netart which ist still existing as a completed netart work, however due to a specific, non-linear programming which could not be transferred to the linear structure of the video a complete reconstruction was necessary. Therefore the video is standing as an art work individually for itself.
Screenings/ participations
2004
BEAP – Biennale of Electronic Art Perth/Australia
2003
*ArteMedia 2003 – Buenos Aires/Argentina
*Digital Sur Festival- Arte Digital Rosario 2003 – Rosario (Argentina)
*PEAM 2003 – Electronic Art Festival 2003 Pescara/Italy
*Chiang Mai 1st New Media Art Festival – Chiang Mai (Thailand)
2002
*Cyborg 01 Festival – III International Arts Festival Valencia/Venezuela
*X Canarias International Festival of Video & Multimedia
*e-magic – cybermedia events – 43th International Filmfestival Thessaloniki (Greece)
*VideoMarathon Contemporary Art Centre Chisinau (Moldavia)
*Liberarti – Liverpool Biennial (UK) – Violence Online Festival –
*Asolo Art Film Festival – Asolo (Italy) – www.asolofilmfestival.it
*ISEA 2002 Nagoya (Japan) – Electronic Theatre
*17th Videoformes Festival – Clermont Ferrand (F)
*COOP Media Festival – Museum of Contemporary Art Bucaresti (Romania)
*IV SALON Y COLOQUIO INTERNACIONAL DE ARTE DIGITAL – Havanna (Cuba)
*’Visions Festival’ at St. Kilda Film Festival – Melbourne (Australia)
*Free Manifesta/Manifesta 4 – Kunstverein Frankfurt (Germany)
*Free Biennial New York (USA)
*About Vision – digital art exhibition London (UK)
*New Media Line – online exhibition on KanonMedia, Vienna (Austria)
*IDEA – Indian Documentary of Electronic Arts
2001
*Condominium – Webart at – HICETNUNC 10 – San Vito a/T (Italy)
*File – Electronic Language Festival 2001 Sao Paulo and Curitiba City (Brazil)
*2nd INTERPOETRY Exhibition Sao Paulo (Brazil)
*DMF2001 – Digital Media Festival 2001 Manila (Philippines)
*4th International Meeting of Experimental Poetry Buenos Aires (Argentina)
*Net_working – Exhibition at Watershed Media Centre Bristol (UK) and
*4th International Conference on Modern Technology and Processes for Art, Media and Design, Bangkok (Thailand)
Synopsis
The “anti-war” moving image is based on Agricola de Cologne’s lyrics and musical composition “Never Wake Up” referring to the netart piece of the same name, he created 2001.
Subject:
Loss of identity: Soldiers become distorted, veterans of war are not able
to be reintegrated in society.
The poem/movie uses some fundamental images:
The soldier = metaphor for the human individual
War = metaphor for life, respectively the fights of all day life
Veteran of War = the human being who can not get rid of the Shadows of the Past.
The used footage is demonstrating the senselessness of war.
It is a plea for humanity, the question: who is the victim – is an ambiguous one.
The video is using found footage is based on the same poem “Never Wake Up” and the related composition of the same name.
The movie is referring to war situations of the past years, eg World War II, Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Ukraine and Islamist terror,
so its message and the related symbolism is going far beyond the small netart piece from 2001 taking the complexity of our current world into account.
The 1st version created in FLASH (Macromedia) in the low screen resolution of 800×600 px, was developed according the principle of SAMAC
(Simultaneous Associative Media Art Composing) which describes Agricola’s individual way of experimental electronic writing: words, sound, images, animation, music and voice performance are developed simultaneously –depending on each other – in one long single process.
Voice and sound performance by Agricola de Cologne.
The video is directed, produced and edited by Wilfried Agricola de Cologne – supported by The New Museum of Networked Art
Festivals/participations
*Torino Digital Clip Festival (Italy) – 2001
*Net_working – Exhibition at Watershed Media Centre Bristol (UK) and
*4th International Conference on Modern Technology and Processes for Art, Media and Design, Bangkok (Thailand) 2001
*Biennale de Cerveira 2001 (Portugal) digital works with R 2001: 2001 *2nd INTERPOETRY Exhibition Sao Paulo (Brazil) – 2001
*Casting a Net – McLean Project for the Arts (Virginia/USA) – 2001
*4th International Meeting of Experimental Poetry Buenos Aires (Argentina) 2001
*DMF2001 – Digital Media Festival 2001 Manila (Philippines) 2001
*Reload – NetArt Open 2002 – Istanbul Museum Istanbul (Turkey) 2002
*Asolo Art Film Festival – Asolo (Italy) 2002
*17th Videoformes Festival – Clermont Ferrand (F)
*COOP Media Festival – Museum of Contemporary Art Bucaresti (Romania) 2002
*’Visions Festival’ at St. Kilda Film Festival – Melbourne (Australia) 2002
*HAZE – hive-projects Toronto (Canada) 2002
*Free Manifesta/Manifesta 4 – Kunstverein Frankfurt (Germany) 2002
*Free Biennial New York (USA) 2002
*IV SALON Y COLOQUIO INTERNACIONAL DE ARTE DIGITAL 2002
*Digital Sur Festival- Arte Digital Rosario 2003 – Rosario (Argentina) 2003
*PEAM 2003 – Electronic Art Festival 2003 Pescara/Italy 2003
*Chiang Mai 1st New Media Art Festival – Chiang Mai (Thailand) 2003
*No War Media Marathon Berlin – 2003
Message to our Neighbors, 2003, 1:00
Synopsis
It is always good to give sometimes a message to your neighbour.
Credits:
Director: Agricola de Cologne
Producer: Agricola de Cologne
Editor: Agricola de Cologne
Script/concept: Agricola de Cologne
Sound/original music: Agricola de Cologne
Cinematography: Agricola de Cologne
Festivals/Screenings
Centro d’arte Contemporaneo Pecci Prato/Italy
Title:
Inability of Being Nude, 2004/2018
The moving picture takes the classical theme of the “nude” in a contemporary interpretation as a psychological condition.
The viewer is confronted with different levels of movements of baring/exposing.
He becomes very quickly aware, that he did not enter a peep-show, but is disturbing intimacy, the process of emptiness. Emptiness in the sense of meditating.
The nude is a metaphor. The Inability of Being Nude becomes the inability of exposing one’s entire internal to other people, including those who are most intimate and this could be the viewer himself. This inability is in the same way protecting as separating.
Credits
Director: Agricola de Cologne
Producer: Agricola de Cologne
Editor: Agricola de Cologne
Script/concept: Agricola de Cologne
Sound: Agricola de Cologne
Music composed by: Agricola de Cologne
Cinematography: Agricola de Cologne
Programming: Agricola de Cologne
TV –> Transfera TV Madrid /Spain –
14 & 15 December 2007
17 & 18 October 2008
Festivals/participations
Title:
Truth: Paradise Found
Synopsis
The video tells the story of the human desire to be as close to truth as possible. But who ever will succeed while living a life dominated by the fast running time and endless searching?
If there is any paradise, then monks or people really resting within themselves find a paradise close to truth close to GOD. But it is only truth people are believing in. Is there absolute truth?
The video consists of three sections, a spiritual and a physical section and the acting level, the artist who is filming the scene, an intruder who become witness of a ritual of truth.
This basic video was filmed in 2003 at the Rila Monastery, the spiritual centre of Bulgaria.
Credits:
Director, Producer, Editor, Script/Concept, Sound, Composer, Cinematography, Programming
Agricola de Cologne
Prizes
2007
Best experimental film
3rd Budapest International Film Festival 2007
more info here
Festivals/screenings(45)
2009
“Bivouac Project – The Big Switch: New Media, Film and Video” – Sumter County Gallery of Art (USA) – 2 April- 22 May 2009
2008
*Les Inattendues Film Festival Lyon/France – 21-27 January 2008
Les Abbatoirs – Museum of Comtemporary Art Toulouse/France
MACZUL – Museum of Contemporary Art Maracaibo/Venezuela
2007
*Bigscreen Festival Kunming/China 2007
*cimtec Sevilla transit -Viva video – Sevilla/Spain 2007
*2nd Bursa International Film Festival Istanbul/Turkey – 2007
*Szemlétek Audiovisual Filmfest and Art Meeting Pécs (Hungary) 2007
*DigiFest Florence/Italy 2007
*Budapest International Short Film Festival 2007
2006
*Video Dialoghi – Institute Francais Turin/Italy – 2006
*Emergences Festival Paris 2006
*Visionaria Film Festival Sienna 2006
*MAC – Manifestation d’Art Contemporain Paris (France) 2006
*VIVA Art Video Zwolle/Netherlands 2006
*Intro-Out Festival Thessaloniki/Greece 2006
*Pixeldance Festival Thessaloniki/Greece 2006
*Streaming Festival The Hague/Netherlands 2006
*Confluencias’06 Huelva/Spain 2006
*Athens Videoart Festival 2006
*Japan Media Arts Festival 2006
*Metu Video Festival Ankara/Turkey 2006
*Paço das Artes Sao Paulo(Brazil) Laisle Entertainment! 2006
*CeC & CaC – India International Center New Dehli/India – 2006
*MAGMART – video art festival – Naples/Italy – 2006
2005
*Biennale of Video & New Media Santiago/Chile 2005
*V-Art Festival Cagliari/Italy 2005
* Hic et Nunc – San Vito a/Tagliamento/Italy 2005
*Arcipelago – International Festival for Shortfilm and New Images Rome 2005
*MAEM – Electronic Art Festival Madrid/Mostoles 2005
*Interferencias – International Festival of Art in Action-Junin/Buenos Aires-Argentina- 2005
*National Museum Szczecin/Poland – PI – five – Video Festival 2005
*3rd 0110 Digital Film Festival New Dehli/India 2005
*AVANCA 2005 – Festival of Video & Multimedia Avanca/Portugal 2005
*prog:ME – Electronic Art Festival Rio de Janeiro/Brazil 2005
*Obsession”- International Audio-Video Festival Istanbul/Turkey 2005
*Art-in-Your-Face” Video Festival Malmoe/Sweden 2005
*SENEF – Seoul Festival for Internet & Film 2005
*VidFest05 – Video Festival Museum of New Art 2005
* Biennale of Electronic Art Perth/Australia September 2004 (premiere)
Screenings
*52 Venice Biennale – Divine in Tent curated by Doron Polak – 2007
*DOCUMENTA 12 – Divine in Tent curated by Doron Polak – 2007
*Videoformes – Int. Festival of Video & New Media 2007
*The Art Gallery of Knoxville/USA 2006
*Hara Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo/Japan –Viva Video 2006
*That Uncomfortable Place Between Beginning and Ending, curated by Lee Wells 2005
*Groundworks – Regina Gouger Miller Gallery Pittsburgh/USA 2005
TV:
Propeller TV (UK)
ArtChannel Paris (France)
Synopsis
In 1998, Agricola de Cologne became a victim of a terror attack. The video is the attempt to make the traumatic experiences perceivable via metaphoric images on an emotional level .
The artist’s voice performing one of his musical compositions uses sound instead of words in order to symbolize the speechlessness and inability of the people surrounding him to react properly.
Credits:
Director: Agricola de Cologne
Producer: Agricola de Cologne
Editor: Agricola de Cologne
Script/concept: Agricola de Cologne
Sound: Agricola de Cologne
Music composed by: Agricola de Cologne
Cinematography: Agricola de Cologne
Programming: Agricola de Cologne
Festivals:
Synopsis
The house of tomorrow is the house of one’s identity, it does not need to be a concrete house or building, but represents a secure and protected place where people can stand for what they are and represent, a human being. And this human may have many identities in different fields, the sexual identity represents only one among many others.
Credits:
Director, producer, editor, script/concept, cinematography, programming: Agricola de Cologne
Sound/music: Agricola de Cologne
Title: House of Tomorrow
Awards
2006
Magmart Video Art Award Naples (Italy)
2006
Bele.Arte.Lamia Video Art Award Lamia (Greece)
Festivals/Screenings (34)
2009
2008
2007
2006
2005
Synopsis
A human being is obliged to spend at least one day in his lifetime on Mars. Mars the red desert planet, Mars the god of war. Mars can be anywhere, any place which is identified with the inhuman, violence, hate, rage, revenge and despair.
Agricola de Cologne filmed the original material 2006 during a visit in Palestine & Israel.
Credits:
Director, Producer, Editor, Script, Sound, Music
Agricola de Cologne
Cast
Wilfried Agricola de Cologne
Awards/prizes
1st International Cyprus Film Festival 2008
more info on http://www.agricola-de,cologne.de/blog/?p=161
TV screenings
Festivals
2009
Oi Futuro Cultural Centre Rio de Janeiro/Br
2008
//
Title:
Bareback – serial DIScharge, 2007, 6:00
Synopsis
The experimental film tells the story of a homeless person, who lost its identity in all the traumatic experiences it was undergoing. Again, Agricola de Cologne uses the form of the allegorical representation for pointing to essential questions of human existence. All people are homeless in on or the other way, most however, suffer from it without being aware of it. The film is a mirror of our time which has lost its roots.
Credits:
Director – Producer – Editor – Script/concept – Sound/music – Cinematography – Programming: Agricola de Cologne
Award
Videoart Award Bele Arte Lamia 2007 – high commendation
http://www.belleartelamia.org/
FONLAD Video Award 2007
FONLAD – Digital Art Festival Coimbra/Pt
TV
Transfera TV Madrid /Spain –
14 & 15 December 2007
17 & 18 October 2008
Festivals/screenings:(31)
2009
2008
11-15 March 2008
2007
.
Synopsis
Video based on a poetic text by Agricola de Cologne inspired by the Central Station of Milan (Italy).
Metropolis: sunday morning, between open end and twilight, between hope and resignation, between following a dream and returning that night to the home town or village outside.
Coming from the disco, full of the impressions of that juicy girl or that horny boy, doubtful of whether preserving innocence or following the instinct for an outstanding erotic adventure.
It is the moment of not yet knowing, vacillating between yes or no.
It is a same ritual each week-end, even if decisions are made once.
It is a game between identifying and identity.
The work describes the urban landscape as a scenario of a play, where the protagonists are embedded in without any chance to escape.
Voice and sound performance by Agricola de Cologne.
A 1st video version was originally programmed in Flash (Marcomedia) in 2002.
Credits: Director, producer, editor, script/concept, cinematography, programming: Agricola de Cologne
Copyright © 2002 -2016 by Agricola de Cologne. All rights reserved.
Festivals/participations
*Cinemania(c) – exhibition at 49th Pula Filmfestival – Pula (Croatia)2002
*Digitalclip Festival – GAM – Galleria Civica d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea Torino (Italy) 2002
*Medi@terra – Festival 2002 – Fournos Cultural Centre Athens (Greece)2002
*Mediahexa Festival Seoul (Korea)2002
*Cyborg 01 Festival – Valencia/Venezuela 2002
*III. INTERPOETRY Exhibition Sao Paulo (Brazil)2002
*43th International Filmfestival Thessaloniki (Greece)2002
*5th International Meeting of Experimental Poetry Buenos Aires (Argentina)2002
*VideoMarathon Contemporary Art Centre Chisinau (Moldavia) – 2002
*Liberarti – Liverpool Biennial (UK) – Violence Online Festival – 2002
*ISEA 2002 Nagoya (Japan)
*COOP Media Festival – Museum of Contemporary Art Bucaresti (Romania)2002
*’Visions Festival’ at St. Kilda Film Festival – Melbourne (Australia)
*Nth ArtExhibit.001 – Nth Art Collective London/UK 2003
*Moving Media Multiplicator Vienna (Austria) 2003
*Artemedia 2003 – Universidad Maimonides Buenos Aires/Argentina 2003
*FiFI Festival 2003 – Paris (France) – Urban.early sunday morning_raw 2003
*File 2003 – Electronic Language Festival Sao Paulo (Brazil) 2003
*Digital Sur Festival- Arte Digital Rosario 2003 – Rosario (Argentina) 2003
*8th International Festival of New Film – Split/Croatia 2003
*Fibreculture Conference 2003 – Brisbane/Australia :: Digital Literacies 2003
*New Forms Festival Vancouver (Canada) 2003
*Film and New Media Festival Lancaster (UK) 2003
*Galerija ULUPUH Zagreb/Croatia 2003
*PEAM 2003 – Electronic Art Festival 2003 Pescara/Italy 2003
*Kunst aus Strom Festival/Art from Electric Power Festival 2003
*Kinokaze – Open Screen Belgrade (Serbia & Montenegro) 2003
*(6th) Media Arts Festival, Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography 2003
*3rd Audiovisual Festival Lille/France – 2003
*Belgrade Summer Festival – Open Screen Belgrade 2004
*The Wiggle Room San Antonio TX (USA) 2004
*FAIM Madrid – El Viernes Curvado curated by Antonio Alvarado 2004
*Biennale de Montreal 2004
*Museo de Arte Contemporáneo del ZULIA, MACZUL – Salón de Arte Digital -2005
*Cyber Poem 2.1 – International Meeting of Digital Poetry 2005
*FONLAD – Online Festival Coimbra/Pt 22/10-30/11
*Micropolis – Internation contest and Exhibition Athens/Greece 2005
*Museum of Contemporary Art Santa Fe/Argentina – Orilla#05 – International Show of Digital Art – 8-11 September
Synopsis
Digital video inspired by a visit of Thessaloniki.
The work describes the principle of “code” or “coding” in form of an allegory, a metaphoric story as a ritual of meeting, dominating and resigning. The code is identified as a state of the static, dogmatic and conservative, which asks for obedience, but gives no chance to escape.
Voice and sound performance by Agricola de Cologne.
The movie is edited, directed and produced by Agricola de Cologne.
En[code] ed
an interview with Agricola de Cologne
by Jeremy Hight
Credits:
Director, producer, editor, script/concept, cinematography, programming, sound/music
Agricola de Cologne
Festivals/participations
2010 – 2003
27 February – 1 March 2009 – part of “the solo retrospective “Some Minutes of a Time”
2-10 october 2008 – part of the solo presentation “Some Minutes of a Time”
Synopsis
The hairdryer becomes a symbol for desire.
Credits:
Director, Producer, Editor: Agricola de Cologne
Festivals
Short synopsis
Silent Cry is the visualization of an internal cry happening all the time, when society does not allow to show deep emotional affection. The silent cry is always present caused by never ending traumatizations during decades hidden behind the facade people wants to see. And even if the cry would be be seen or heard, people would refuse to face it. The work release is giving sound a particular relevance.
Credits:
Director: Agricola de Cologne
Producer: Agricola de Cologne
Editor: Agricola de Cologne
Script/concept: Agricola de Cologne
Sound: Agricola de Cologne
Cinematography: Agricola de Cologne
.
.
Festivals/Screenings
2020-2012
2011
.
2010
.
.
2009
.
27 February – 1 March 2009 – part of “the solo retrospective “Some Minutes of a Time”
.
2008
.
2-10 october 2008 – part of the solo presentation “Some Minutes of a Time”
Short synopsis
Love is a burning phantom – it appears unexpectedly and is vanishing without any warning.
Credits:
Director: Agricola de Cologne
Producer: Agricola de Cologne
Editor: Agricola de Cologne
Script/concept: Agricola de Cologne
Sound/music: Agricola de Cologne
Cinematography: Agricola de Cologne
Programming: Agricola de Cologne
Festivals, screenings, participations
2010
2009
7-10 May 2009
Short synopsis
Five friends meet each other once a year at another place on the globe for one day and play their memory game. In 2010, they meet in Berlin, a place where countless strings of memory come together at the focus of one place which is standing for the more than 6 millions of murdered Jews, the Memorial for The Murdered Jews in Europe.
The video was filmed in Berlin, Budapest and Auschwitz and is released on occasion of 65th return of the Liberation of the Concentration Camp Auschwitz on 27 January 2010.
.
Collection: SFC – Shoah Film Collection – http://dilight.a-virtual-memorial.org
Screenings & exhibitions
A Virtual Memorial Timisoara 2014 – German Cultural Center – 27 Jan 2014
A Virtual Memorial Vilnius 2013 – Jewish Cultural Center Vilnius – District Museum Kedainiai 23 Sept – 28 Oct 2013
A Virtual Memorial Riga 2012 – NOASS & Riga Ghetto & Latvian Holocaust Museum Riga – 1-30 June 2012
CologneOFF 2011 Mexico- UAM Mexico City – 12-14 November 2011
Trauma, 2010, 1:30
Short synopsis
“Trauma” turns the inside out, it vizualizes the internal traces of violence, grief, rage and helplessness.
Credits:
Director: Agricola de Cologne
Producer: Agricola de Cologne
Editor: Agricola de Cologne
Script/concept: Agricola de Cologne
Sound: Agricola de Cologne
Cinematography: Agricola de Cologne
.
Predator
Synopsis
The video is a metaphoric view on the predator in each of us
telling the everyday life story when youth gangs are attacking other people at lonesome locations without any witnesses. The predator as the victim of the circumstances. While acting as a social being, each of us uses its potential of aggression in order to impose one’s will, and mostly by doing anything to achieve one’s end, no matter how the consequences may look like.
The video is based on three individual video sequences recorded from acting experiences with the performance artists group “The Acting and Noise Company”.
Credits:
Director: Agricola de Cologne
Producer: Agricola de Cologne
Editor: Agricola de Cologne
Script/concept: Agricola de Cologne
Sound: Agricola de Cologne
Cinematography: Agricola de Cologne
Programming: Agricola de Cologne
Festivals
Wilfried Agricola de Cologne (Germany) – Shatila-Lost Island, 2016, 20:00
“It was a wonderful sunny afternoon, time for dreaming when my Palestinian guide catched me from the hotel in downtown Beirut. We were riding with his car about a quater of an hour but after a while the car was swimming in a kind of mysterious fog like a boat in the sea when suddenly the gate of an Arab town appeared from nowhere. Entering this gate I was entering a forgotten, enchanted world, happy and very sad alike crowded with people who seems to live in an ancient and contemporary world at the same time. They call it camp, but aren’t we all living in camps.”
Shatila –
that’s the name of this place. Separated from the metropolitan area of Beirut, but at the same time in its center, but invisible to those who do not know, and for those who know a kind of “tabu” is speading the message of not existing.
Errected as a Palestinian refugee camp in Beirut in 1949, its actual purpose was to give Palestinian refugees – expelled from their home land Palestine – a temporary shelter lasting probably in the beginning just for a few months, to be later prolonged for some years, but since many years, however, for permanent. After nearly 70 years, still provisional and only for humanitarian reasons tolerated by the Lebanese, the camp developped to a real Arab town – but an island of no return within the community of Beirut – where generations of Palestinians – followers of the first refugees – eke out their existance as “unwanted” – as eternal refugees – without any perspectives for a future.
People forgot its existance so that Shatila and its inhabitans became during the past decades invisble, until 2012 people remembered Shatila – this fogotten island – as an ideal shelter for refugees escaping from the Syrian civil war (which is since then escalating in a most horrible way).
While until his dead the Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat represented the only hope for these Palestinian refugees living in camps in and outside Palestine, after his death 2004, however, it was Bashar al Assad, the current Syrian dictator who took over this role but waging since many years a war against his own people with terror and death, causing since 2012 hundreds of thousands of Syrians to escape to Lebanon. Once the only hope for the Palestinians, Assad, is standing now for the abolute despair and hopelessness. How quickly Shatila turned again to that forgotten area and invisble area – an island – located in the middle of metropolitan Beirut.
A special version of this video is representing the final part of Agricola de Cologne’s “Palestinian Trilogy”, which is including also the previously released videos “Mesaage from behind a Wall” (2005) and “One Day on Mars” (2008) reflecting his visits in Middle East in 2005 and 2006.
director and producer: Wilfried Agricola de Cologne
Year of production: 2015
Filmed on location in Lebanon (Berut and surropundings)
Aspect ratio: PAL 16:9
Video format: HD mp4
exhibition format: mp4, DVD, BlueRay
duration: 20 minutes
Collection: “Reguee!” Film Collection – http://refugee.engad.org
Screenings
2016
Now & After International Videoart Festival Moscow – State Darwin Museum Moscow
Festival X 24 – Gainsborough/UK
Torrance Art Museum Los Angeles(USA)
CeC – Carnival of e-Creativity Shillong/India
Short synopsis
The massacre at Rumbula Forest near Riga (30 November and 8 December 1941), the diary written by Doron Polak’s father during his imprisonment at Riga Ghetto, his survival and the memory of all had and has an fundamental influence on the performative work of the Israeli performance artist. Agricola de Cologne’s film is interpreting the historical and artistic roots by referring to the artistic inventions Doron Polak was realising on occasion of “A Virtual Memorial Riga 2012” and “A Virtual Memorial Vilnius 2013”.
Details
Director: Wilfried Agricola de Cologne
Cinematorgraphy: Wilfried Agricola de Cologne
Production: The New Museum of Networked Art
Originalö footage shot in Riga (Latvia) and Vilnius (Lithuania)
video format : PAL HD mp4
exhibition format: mp4, DVD, BlueRay
Collection: SFC – Shoah Film Collection – http://sfc.engad.org/video/
The Plea – A Palestinian Trilogy
2017, 40:00
In October 2017, Agricola de Cologne completed his film project “The Plea – A Palestinian Trilogy” starting in 2005 when he visited the Westbank for the first time.
The project is consisting of three videos created between 2005 and 2016, a period when the political situation in Middle East escalated dramatically.
The footage of the first part, entitled “Message from Behind the Wall” released in 2005, is reflecting the erection of the big wall in Bethlehem in 2005.
The 2nd part, entitled: „One Day On Mars“, completed in 2008, is based on footage Agricola de Cologne shot 2006 when he was visiting Palestine for the 2nd time, while the footage of the 3rd part, entitled “Shatila – Lost Island” completed in 2016, was shot 2012, when he was visiting Beirut and the Palestinian refugee camp „Shatila“. The camp which is currently also shelter for Syrian refugees in Beirut is now a symbol for two most dramatic conflicts in Middle East and failed international politics at the expense of the Palestinian people.
Visiting Middle East and dealing with the Palestinian question is causing a differenciated point of view and thinking. While the problem is dominated by two (however, failed) political ideologies drawing reality black and white, the “true” reality shows multi-facetted shades of grey, in which the “normal” people are yearning desperately for living in peace, dignity and the perspectives for a future.
The film project “The Plea” is a plea for humanity on one hand and a self-determined life which is representing a human right.
The Plea – A Palestinian Trilogy
1.
Message from Behind the WAll
http://agricola-de.cologne/video/?p=459
2005, 10:00
The segregation wall in Palestine is a fact. In November 2004, an artistic action against the wall ended, taking place at six different places in Palestine where walls were under construction, initiated by Palestine artists by inviting artists from different countries to paint an artistic message on the concrete.
When Agricola de Cologne was in Bethlehem in February 2005, he visited several places where the Israeli were erecting the wall. The part of the wall he was filming, is situated in opposite of the AIDA refugee camp (UN), and was at that time a temporary playground for children. And these children made their own contribution to the huge wall paintings.
“Message from behind a Wall”is transporting different messages, but the main message represents the action of children’s innocence.
The moving picture is a unique document of the day of 17 February 2005. In 2006. however, the construction of the wall in Bethlehem was completed, and the hostile area around the wall is not used any longer as a playground for children.
2.
One Day on Mars
http://agricola-de.cologne/video/?p=478
2007, 8:00
A human being is obliged to spend at least one day in his lifetime on Mars. Mars the red desert planet, Mars the god of war. Mars can be anywhere, any place which is identified with the inhuman, violence, hate, rage, revenge and despair.
Agricola de Cologne filmed the original material 2006 during a visit in Palestine & Israel.
3.
Shatila Lost Island
http://agricola-de.cologne/video/?p=667
2016, 20:00
“It was a wonderful sunny afternoon, time for dreaming when my Palestinian guide catched me from the hotel in downtown Beirut. We were riding with his car about a quater of an hour but after a while the car was swimming in a kind of mysterious fog like a boat in the sea when suddenly the gate of an Arab town appeared from nowhere. Entering this gate I was entering a forgotten, enchanted world, happy and very sad alike crowded with people who seems to live in an ancient and contemporary world at the same time. They call it camp, but aren’t we all living in camps.”
Shatila –
that’s the name of this place. Seperated from the metropolitan area of Beirut, but at the same time in its center, but invisible to those who do not know, and for those who know a kind of “tabu” is speading the message of not existing.
Errected as a Palestinian refugee camp in Beirut in 1949, its actual purpose was to give Palestinian refugees – expelled from their home land Palestine a temporary shelter – lasting probably in the beginning just for a few months, to be later prolonged for some years, but since many years, however, for permanent. After nearly 70 years, still provisional and only for humanitarian reason tolerated by the Lebanese, the camp developped to a real Arab town – but an island of no return within the community of Beirut – where generations of Palestinians – followers of the first refugees – eke out their existance as “unwanted” – as eternal refugees – without any perspectives for a future.
People forgot its existance so that Shatila and its inhabitans became during the past decades invisble, until 2012 people remembered Shatila – this fogotten island – as an ideal shelter for refugees escaping from the Syrian civil war (which is since then escalating in a most horrible way).
While until his dead the Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat represented the only hope for these Palestinian refugees living in camps in and outside Palestine, after his death 2004, however, it was Bashar al Assad, the current Syrian dictator who took over this role but waging since many years a war against his own people with terror and death, causing since 2012 hundreds of thousands of Syrians to escape to Lebanon. Once the only hope for the Palestinians, Assad, is standing now for the abolute despair and hopelessness. How quickly Shatila turned again to that forgotten area and invisble area – an island – located in the middle of metropolitan Beirut.
The video is representing the final part of Agricola de Cologne*’s “Palestinian Trilogy”, which is including also the previously released videos “Mesaage from behind a Wall” (2005) and “One Day on Mars” (2008) based on original footage shot in Palestine (Westbank) and Israel.
SODA – Song of Day After: I Am my Father: , 2017, 4:46
Synopsis:
Experimental autobiographical work using a metaphorical language to reflect the traumatizations of Past & Present.
The first film in a series of autobiographical works.
Synopsis
Climate Change: The film is reflecting the shrinking recourses of water as a cause for flight and migration.
The video combines original footages shot by Agricola de Cologne in Morocco & Israel with found footage.
Synopsis
What, if Europe would be an human being? – Agricola de Cologne is giving his answer
Synopsis
Life and time get a new meaning for those who wait for the execution of the death sentence, for them it is the question whether life is that true prison and death rather the liberation from this prison. The metaphorical video reflects the changing values in life during the process of approaching death.
OAKTOWN – on climate activism, 2019, 17:00
The video is demonstrating how the future generation is facing its future – by preserving the natural environment as the living habitat for mankind. Oaktown @ the Hambach Forest is standing as a symbol for many other attempts in all parts on the globe to sensitize people and public opinon.
Oaktown @ Hambacher Forst
The Hambach Forest, which is located between Cologne and Aachen in North Rhine-Westphalia, is one of the oldest and last primary forests in Central Europe. It has been in existence for 12,000 years, which is exceptional. At one time the forest was 5,500 ha in size. Now there are only 1,100 ha left, the rest having been destroyed by the RWE (Reinisch-Westfälisches Elektrizitätswerk) and by opencast lignite mining. For activists living in the forest, it is not just a question of protecting the forest, it is also a question of climate change, health, relocation, expropriation and who makes the decisions.
For Wilfried Agricola de Cologne who grew up in 60ies and 70ies of 20th cenrtury, Martin Luther King’s human rights activism is standing at the beginning of the movememt which manifesting iiself these days in the diverse form of climate activism. The three songs written and performed by Marvinn Gaye stand for the spririt of activism via non-violent resistance.
The Corona VIdeo, 2020, 4:24
The Corona Video, 2020, 4:24
The title, actually speaks for itself. Life is frozen. Life has withdrawn from its natural environment. Living structures like nature, but also one’s own life can be experienced only virtually on the monitor, it might be a TV or computer screen.
Part of The Corona Film Collection
Danse Macabre, 2022, 6:30
War! (in Ukraine) – dancing the annihilation
Agricola de Cologne interview
@ Ländsmuseum Örebro @ art:screen fest Orebro/SWE – 7 Oct 2012 – 15h
