PORTFOLIO

Lidia Rossner's visual work is primarily documentary, research based using ethnographic methods. She uses video, audio and still photography as media. Most recently, Lidia has realized several commissioned films for the Humboldt Dahlem Lab in Berlin, Germany. From 2012 to 2015, the Lab enabled collaborations between museum curators, designers, artists, and scholars for a series of concentrated projects, “Probebühnen” (rehearsal stages), with the aim to re-think exhibition models, public engagement and education in preparation for the move of two museums, Ethnological Museum and Asian Art Museum to the Humboldt Forum in the center of Berlin in 2019.

Lidia's contribution was two-fold, as a visual representation consultant and a media artist. She created three documentaries for the Asian Art Museum that were screened as part of the exhibitions. These include "Sound of Painting” 19 min.,’Yuken Teruya: On Okinawa’ 9 min., and a performance documentary for Yuken Teruya. The other audio-visual works were part of experimental installations for the ‘Music Listening’ exhibition, in collaboration with the Department of Ethnomusicology, Media Technology and Berlin Phonogram Archive of the Ethnological Museum. One of the projects was ‘Making of … Musical instruments – construction techniques, design, aesthetics of sound’, a series of six films, a four-channel video and 5 videos for iPad content. Another project was ‘Kathak’, a 27 min., a multi-channel audio-visual work exploring representation strategies of ethnographic research, developed in collaboration with cultural anthropologist Nicole Lehmann. All of the films will be included in the new exhibition spaces in the Humbold Forum in 2019.

Previously, as part of her research of contemporary art practices and art biennials, Lidia made a film about the 7th Berlin Biennale, ‘ARTISTIC OFFICE. Constructing the 7th Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art’ (2012) 60min. Comprised of visible forms of complex social processes, the film attempts to expose the mechanisms of how an exhibition is conceptualized and realized. As an exploration of the role of art documentation as mediation, Lidia created a series of short films about artists and projects of the 7th Berlin Biennale, which were published on the biennale’s website and two were included in the installations. In 2007, Lidia co-founded dmovies.net as a platform for research, documentation and presentation of art practices. The platforms consists of over 150 video interviews with artists and curators at biennials, museums, galleries and art studios. Edited versions have been included in exhibitions, university courses, and screenings in combination with lectures.

BELOW IS A SELECTION OF RECENT PROJECTS

‘ARTISTIC OFFICE: Constructing the 7th Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art’ (2012) 60 min

Through ethnographically informed research, the film aims to shed insights onto the workings of the 7th Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art, a large-scale international art exhibition. Comprised of visible forms of complex social processes, the film attempts to expose the mechanisms of how an exhibition is conceptualized and realized. The protagonist is a process, the articulation of ideas from linguistic to visual form in a collaborative trans-cultural context. This process is revealed through the transformation trajectory of ideas as manifested in collaborations, decision- making, and interpersonal relationships. It is presented through the prism of the artistic office team, curators and curatorial assistants, in a construct of multi-layered fragments evolving parallel to the Biennale.

view the film on vimeo: vimeo.com/57525223

‘Sounds of Painting' (2014) 20 min. Waseem Ahmed - Dahlem Karkhana

This film is a portrait of Waseem Ahmed’s two month residency in the Asian Art Museum in Berlin, Germany. Waseem Ahmed is a contemporary miniature painter engaged in a socially-critical art movement in Pakistan. His work reflects issues of abuse, religious indoctrination and fundamentalist violence. The film is based on several visits to his studio and a breakfast at his residence. Being without his family in Berlin, Waseem’s wife taught him how to cook via skype and he shared his new skill with me. The process of painting miniature is rather long, lonely and quiet. Multiple stages include mixing pigments, preparing the paper, drawing, painting with brushes made with squirrel hair, and applying thin sheets of gold or silver. Screened from Nov 9, 2014- Apr 5, 2015 in the Asian Art Museum, Berlin

view the film on vimeo: vimeo.com/111243767

 

‘Yuken Teruya' (2014) 9 min

Exhibition documentary of 'Yuken Teruya: On Okinawa. Collections from the Past and the Future' (2014) at the Museum of Asian Art in Berlin, Germany. Born in Okinawa, Japan, Yuken Teruya lives and works in New York and Okinawa. At the core of this work was the artist’s connection to and inclusion of objects from the museum’s historical collection from Okinawa, while critically reflecting on the current situation in Okinawa. Additionally, the artist acquired new artifacts from Okinawa for the museum’s collection and invited a dancer from Okinawa, Erina Nakamine, to perform a traditional dance for the opening of the exhibition. Screened Oct. 23, 2014 - Feb. 8, 2015 in the Asian Art Museum, Berlin, Germany.

view the film on vimeo: https://vimeo.com/108258865

‘Peace Wall' (2012) 11 min

Artist Nada Prlja erected a 'peace wall' on Friedrich­strasse in Berlin as a visual reference to the social segretation in the area. This controversial project generated intense discussions and conflicts within the affected community and was dismantled earlier than scheduled. Within the art community, the project instigated debates on issues surrounding critical public art created within an institutional framework, such as a biennale.

view the film on the Berin Biennale website: Peace Wall 


link to the project on the Berlin Biennale website: berlinbiennale.de/peace-wall

 

Excerpt from ‘Electric Sitar Remake’ (2014) 17 min

Four-channel documentary of intercultural music instrument making workshop (17 min); five video segments for iPads - total content 90 min. In collaboration with the Department of Ethnomusicology, Media Technology and Berlin Phonogram Archive of the Ethnological Museum. Two teams of instrument makers and instrumentalists, one from Germany and one from India, set out to convert two identical string instruments, Danelectro Coral sitars, in order to reflect their respective acoustic ideals. The project was developed for ‘Making of … Musical instruments – construction techniques, design, aesthetics of sound’, a Music Listening installation comprising text, music instruments and iPad at the Ethnological Museum in Berlin, Germany, during Humboldt Lab Dahlem's ‘Probebühne 5’ (2014-2015).

dmovies.net

dmovies.net is a platform for research, documentation and presentation of art practices. The platforms consists of over 150 video interviews with artists and curators at art biennials, museums, galleries and art studios. Edited versions have been included in exhibitions, university courses, and screenings in combination with lectures. Biennials include: Berlin, Germany; Istanbul, Turkey; Shanghai, China; Venice, Italy; Prospect 1, New Orleans, USA; and Documenta, Kassel, Germany. The team of dmovies has been comissioned by contemoprary art museums to create documentary series about exhibitions and artists.

view the film on a vimeo channel: dmovies