CIMATICS PLATFORM / Brussels

Look at Berlin at Pocket Film Festival, Paris

'Look at Berlin' will be presented at the Pocket Film Festival, Paris (Forum des Images) from 10 till 14 June. 'Look at Berlin' is is shown as an audiovisual installation and presents a finicky reconstruction of Obama's speech in Berlin based on cellphone footage.

http://www.festivalpocketfilms.fr

About Look at Berlin

The video 'Look at Berlin' was first conceived as part of the installation 'The Real-Size Image II', and shown at the exhibition 'Strategies of Confidence' in Antwerp (Belgium) in January 2009.

The video can best be described as: "Obama’s Berlin speech, composed entirely of video shot on cell phones [by the audience, red.]." (as described by Brittany Shoot from DVblog)

"Although conceived as an installation, the result of the video-montages as such was very satisfying for me, even in their form of standalone movies. After putting them online to show some friends, I thought this format (as online video) was even more intruiging, relevant and suitable for the original concept. [mobile-networked-distributed-and back to start again]" Bram Crevits

The video got published through DVblog. For the original concept please read the exhibition text of the installation.

The installation

For the idea behind the video(s) the exhibition text for the installation is the best reference. The installation was called 'The Real-Size Image II'. One of the unexpected result of this installation was the birth of 2 online videos. The left screen of the installation has been re-rendered, compressed and renamed as 'Look at Berlin' (being described in the text above). The right screen has been called 'Look at Berlin - negative'.

EXHIBITION TEXT: In 'The Real-Size Image II' the topic is the speech of Barack Obama in Berlin 24th of July, 2008. At least 200.000 people witnessed this event of the then not yet elected presidential candidate.

Obama gave his speech as “a proud citizen of the world” and through this not-presidential position he managed to embody hope for the globalized society.

This historical fact, where north and south, east and west are being connected through a moral power, is confirmed with the fact that a lot of these listeners made their own low-fi, credit-payed and long-taled (mobile-networked-distributed) recordings and spread them. It’s a mediated movement, started from the listener.

Bram Crevits presents two synchronized films. The left film shows the official and professional recorded version of the speech, but with the difference that every spoken word is cut out of. An intriguing plastic study of the speech occurs, where Barack Obama is the filmed subject. By showing black frames while he speaks and images when he’s silent, the importance of Obama’s rhetoric becomes visible.

Parallel with this edit a second projection shows user-generated imagery, collected by Bram Crevits through channels like Youtube and Mydailymotion. With these images he reconstructs the historicity of this actual speech.

The videos

The video: Look at Berlin

This is the online version of the left video used in the installation presented above. It's Obama’s Berlin speech, composed entirely of video shot on cell phones by the audience. The sound is continuous, but there is only image when Obama says something. So be patient, since the first minute there is only sound.

Video 2: Look at Berlin - negative

The online version of the video on the right hand in the installation, is called 'Look at Berlin - negative'. It is a montage of the official footage as been broadcasted live throughout the actual event in Berlin, but all the 'relevant' sound-bits have been cut out. Whenever Obama says something a black silent screen is shown.

Text

Full text of 'Look at Berlin'
Look at Berlin .srt file