Christian Jankowski
16mm Mystery

The memory of a Baroque painting supplied the inspiration for two new works from Christian Jankowski.
Depicted was a street scene in which a painting, perhaps a holy painting, is being carried through a city
during a procession. What is actually shown on the canvas remains hidden since the painting is faced
towards the row of houses in the background which, supposedly triggered by the power of the painting,
collapses in on itself.

For the film 16mm Mystery Jankowski collaborated with the Strause Brothers, a special effects team re-
sponsible for some digital effects in films like "The Day After Tomorrow" and "Titanic". They transferred
the scene to Los Angeles, the Mecca of modern filmmaking. The artist as the only protagonist in the film
installs a 16mm projector and a projection screen on the parking lot deck in front of the skyline of down-
town LA. Like in the Baroque painting, the spectator only sees the rear side of the screen, its front facing
the skyline in the background. The moment the projector is running, a skyscraper is collapsing and the
sky darkens. While the Baroque painter proofed his virtuosity through the picture in the picture, its pain-
terly power causing a whole building to collapse, in Jankowskis case this omnipotent position is dele-
gated to the Brother Strause, who selected not only the digital effects, but took over the direction of the
film according to Jankowskis rough concept. Their interpretation of the scene appears like a parable of
destruction, an eternal Hollywood cliché epitomized in a few minutes of film.

The film Hollywoodschnee, recently completed in Berlin, also deals with cinematic visions. Figures who
play a decisive role in the production of films, distributors, festival organizers, producers, critics, public
and private investors were invited in front of the camera to present their idea of an "ideal Image" of a film.
In the episodic scenes, the protagonists are surprised by special effects while they are explaining their
visions. The spoken texts (unknown to Jankowski at the moment of the recording) and the special effects
operate on two different levels, joined only through the principle of chance inherent in the concept.

Just as in earlier works which associate themselves symbiotically with other mass media such as tele-
vision or the advertising world, professional boundaries are shifted and responsibilities are exchanged
in these two films shown in specially constructed cinema halls at Klosterfelde gallery. Both raise questions regarding the nature of the image and its creation process – translated from the world of Baroque painting into the world of modern filmmaking.

For additional information or image material please contact the gallery.

opening September 18th 2004, 6 – 9 pm
duration of the exhibition September 21st 2004 – November 6th 2004
opening hours Tuesdays through Saturdays, 11 am – 6 pm