paradoks

At the place where art and moving pictures overlap, the video art exhibition “paradoks”, curated and organized by Filmische Initiative Leipzig (FILZ) e. V. and GEGENkino, relocates documentary formats from the movie theatre to the art gallery. As a supplementary programme on classical documentary film, scheduled at the same time as the DOK Leipzig International Festival for Documentary and Animation Film, the project will present new forms of reception and artistic formats that alter factual representation with fictionalised, journalistic and criminalistic techniques. Featuring a total of nine installations, as well as performances, screenings, short-film tours and a club evening, “paradoks” draws on the collaboration of local and international collectives and artists. Condensed into three thematic complexes, the works focus on unheard-of victims’ narratives (WITNESSING), colonial structures and their effects (EMPOWERMENT) and shifts in consciousness by means of cultural techniques (PSYCHEDELIC ANTHROPOLOGY). The works formally address questions of where and to what extent documentary images meet the criteria of reality and authenticity, and when they are susceptible to interference. An extensive educational programme will contextualise the formats and allow visitors to explore them further.

The project is realised in cooperation with the WRO Art Center in Breslau, Cinémathèque Leipzig, Leipzig Museum of Contemporary Art (GfZK) and the Academy of Fine Arts Leipzig (HGB).

Artistic directors: Amos Borchert, Sebastian Gebeler, Kathrin Lemcke, Jonas Matauschek, Ginan Seidl
Artists: Bani Abidi, Amel Alzakout, Chloé Galibert-Laîné, Forensic Architecture, Karrabing Film Collective, Kevin B. Lee, Rainer Kohlberger, Ben Russel, Ginan Seidl, Barbara Wagner & Benjamin de Burca, Katrin Winkler

Video art exhibition: paradoks; Leipzig 22 Oct. – 7 Nov. 2021; WRO Art Center, Wrocław: 10 – 28 Feb. 2022