Der Amerikaner, der den Columbus zuerst entdeckte, machte eine böse Entdeckung
- Date of creation : 1979, 1981
- Country : Germany
- Artist - Author : Marcel Odenbach
Description
The work is composed of three tapes and three monitors. (Source: Wulf Herzogenrath, "Marcel Odenbach, Das im Entwischen Erwischte Pläne 1975-1983 Video", Germany: Kunsthalle Bremen, 2008, p.191.)
"The installation consists of three monitors arranged from left to right at different distances. The installation is about the relationship between civilization and the so- called third world, especially exotic cultures. The civilization is shown using the example of New York. It is a very restless black and white video tape that strings together short snippets of images from Manhattan. Images of Cola cans, peanuts, advertising spots, the Pope's visit, high-rise buildings, cars, streets and people come into the picture. These impressions and moods, strung together in every corner, are set to music by constantly changing radio stations. In the middle monitor, which is assigned to center, the image moves very slowly out to sea. The giant Manhattan is moving away, reducing itself from the skyline to a point in the sea. The very calm image is only blue and without sound. In the left monitor, the traveler, or rather a refugee from civilization, has reached the world that is foreign to him. But it only presents itself to him in clichés. The green image of beaches with palm trees to the sounds of an African flute improvisation is increasingly interrupted in longer cuts by the drinking of cocktails. The civilized person remains unable to separate himself from the habits of his world of thought."
(Source: Zdenek Felix (ed.), "Marcel Odenbach - Videoarbeiten", Germany: Köln, 1981, p.113.)
Additional Informations
The work has been presented at Kölnischer Kunstverein, Cologne, Germany, in 1981 and at Museum Ludwig, Cologne, Germany, in 1982. (Source: Udo Kittelmann (ed.), "Marcel Odenbach, Ach, wie gut, daß niemand weiß", Germany: Köln, 1999; p.109.)