Chorspiel

  • 2010
  • Ulla von Brandenburg
  • Black and white video, sound
  • 10 min. 35 s.
Like pieces on a chessboard, the characters – grandparents, their daughter and granddaughter – are disturbed by the arrival of a vagabond. The scene unfolds in a surreal setting. A white rectangle is painted on the ground of a clearing surrounded by a dark silent forest; an invisible choir can be heard singing. Merging the unconscious with the conscious, is this a world of the dead, or of the living? The actors take turns to mouth along to the choir's song, like characters inhabited by different voices. This enigmatic tale examines the passing of time through inter-generational relationships.

© Ulla von Brandenburg. Photo © Fondation Louis Vuitton / Marc Domage © Ulla von Brandenburg. Photo © Fondation Louis Vuitton / Marc Domage

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Ulla von Brandenburg

The work of Ulla von Brandenburg draws on literature, psychoanalysis, theatre, hypnosis, games, magic and spiritualism, bringing them together in a type of total art.

Her films, often in black and white, revive old forms of theatre such as the tableau vivant, Greek tragedy and bourgeois drama such as that by Henrik Ibsen, the 19th century Norwegian playwright. Objects and curtains modulate the space in her exhibitions, creating a sense of theatricality that lies between reality and illusion.

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