June 2007
Christopher Schlingensief
German director and artist Christopher Schlingensief presents his first large solo work at an art institution, at the Haus der Kunst until September 16. The in-stallation, “18 Images a Second,” focuses on a piece called African Twin Towers, and short films he shot while directing the Flying Dutchman at the Teatro de Amazonas in Manaus, Brazil. The former is a film about Richard Wagner, September 11, Hagen of Tronje, Odin and Edda, members of an African herdsmen tribe, and spirits. The Brazil films will be presented on an installation featuring an oversized carnival float on which Jesus and Mohammed experience the Lord’s Supper. It’s a piece that must be seen to be understood, and maybe not even then. His other famous works provide a hint of what to expect: a spoof of Hitler’s last hours in the bunker, a frightening reimagination of German reunification as the slaughter of Eastern Germans, and a staging of Parsifal at the Bayreuth Opera Festival that featured a dead rabbit with worms crawling out of it. Schlingensief is a polarizing figure, but then perhaps all great artists have been.
