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| Stills: Reynold Reynolds, The Lost, 2013, 7-channel film installation. Courtesy Reynold Reynolds/West Foto locatie: Jhoeko |
A feature film under production in 1930s Berlin. Like many movies from those days, its filming is stopped under censorship of the Nazi authorities, and the movie never sees the light of day. That is until artist Reynold Reynolds (born in 1966 in Alaska) stumbles upon remnants of the film and spends three years reconstructing it. The resulting “The Lost,” along with various objects associated with the original movie, is currently on display as part of the Volkspaleis event at an electric power station in The Hague.
A team of 20 experts examined the cache of film-related materials. It included in addition to the footage, sketches and storyboards, production notes, costumes and props. Nearly all of the footage is black and white 16-millimeter film and was shot around the world. Some of the filming was done while showing the movie to the public. At the exhibit, the two-and-a-half-hour-long film is shown split among seven enormous screens in the 2,500 square meter exhibit site.
The story follows the lives of a writer who lives in a cabaret in Berlin, a photographer and other artists and cabaret dancers. The movie employs unique filming techniques to capture and intermittently reveal the clash between a hedonistic lifestyle embodied in music, alcohol and homosexuality and the police authorities under the Nazi regime that loathe those elements.
The film is packed with themes that were taboo at the time and the unconventional presentations of them. The film presents a raw portrayal of the internal struggles of artists living in the suffocating environment of censorship that transforms into a world of fantasy.
At the sprawling exhibit where several screens simultaneously show parts of the film, not necessarily in sequence and with a mixing up of scenes and actors, it’s easy to lose one’s sense of footing. So it’s important to take the time to experience the world of this film. Still, mysteries remain as to whether the footage and displayed props are originals from the 1930s or replicas created by the artist Reynold Reynolds. The seven films and exhibited props seem to form a giant whirlpool that slowly swirls the viewer around pre-war Berlin and current day.
“There is no end to this work,” says Marie-José Sondeijker of West which organized the exhibit. She decided to hold the exhibit at the power plant after concluding her own gallery was too white and too small.
This is the second hosting of the Volkspaleis outside of her gallery. That is a radical step out from the insular world of art in the direction of the general public.
Volkspaleis Until October 6th
A team of 20 experts examined the cache of film-related materials. It included in addition to the footage, sketches and storyboards, production notes, costumes and props. Nearly all of the footage is black and white 16-millimeter film and was shot around the world. Some of the filming was done while showing the movie to the public. At the exhibit, the two-and-a-half-hour-long film is shown split among seven enormous screens in the 2,500 square meter exhibit site.
The story follows the lives of a writer who lives in a cabaret in Berlin, a photographer and other artists and cabaret dancers. The movie employs unique filming techniques to capture and intermittently reveal the clash between a hedonistic lifestyle embodied in music, alcohol and homosexuality and the police authorities under the Nazi regime that loathe those elements.
The film is packed with themes that were taboo at the time and the unconventional presentations of them. The film presents a raw portrayal of the internal struggles of artists living in the suffocating environment of censorship that transforms into a world of fantasy.
At the sprawling exhibit where several screens simultaneously show parts of the film, not necessarily in sequence and with a mixing up of scenes and actors, it’s easy to lose one’s sense of footing. So it’s important to take the time to experience the world of this film. Still, mysteries remain as to whether the footage and displayed props are originals from the 1930s or replicas created by the artist Reynold Reynolds. The seven films and exhibited props seem to form a giant whirlpool that slowly swirls the viewer around pre-war Berlin and current day.
“There is no end to this work,” says Marie-José Sondeijker of West which organized the exhibit. She decided to hold the exhibit at the power plant after concluding her own gallery was too white and too small.
This is the second hosting of the Volkspaleis outside of her gallery. That is a radical step out from the insular world of art in the direction of the general public.
Volkspaleis Until October 6th
Volkspaleis
West
Volkspaleis opening times:
13 September — 6 October 2013 Wed — Sun 14:00 — 20:00
