flower
© Shahram
Entekhabi 2005
video projection on painting
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Prologue: We see the image of a man, standing in front of the wall of
a house. To the left of him it is possible to make out part of a barred
basement window. The man wears a dark suit and a light shirt, and he
is carefully shaven. But the trouser-legs of the suit are a little too
short for the wearer’s body. The man is holding a light blue suitcase
in his left hand, and he extends his right - holding a blossoming red
rose - towards the viewers. His expression is serious and reserved.
On the one hand, in Shahram Entekhabi’s video work “Flower” (2004)
this image is a painting measuring 210 x 300 cm, but it is also a projection
surface in various senses of the expression. In formal terms, a street scene
with passers-by walking past is projected onto the background of the painted
picture; onto the wall of the house. The video projection sets the painting alight.
This is accompanied by a valuation of content, for the painted figure cannot
be seen on the video image and thus attains a different materiality within the
overall impression. It neither fits into the radiant effect of the painting,
nor is it integrated into the stream of passing people. The ultimate impression
is that the figure of the man is simultaneously present and absent. Particular
attention is drawn to the figure as a consequence of this state of intermediacy
with respect to media. My cultural background means that I interpret the painted
figure as the image of a guest-worker, since the man’s clothing awakens
this association in Germany. As a result of the visual attributes of rose and
suitcase, as well as his isolation within the pictorial context, it is possible
to see a polite, but uprooted guest-worker in this image. Even though this terminology
has been replaced by another today, the discourse of the guest-worker seems important
to me, since it links the man and his role to a specific historical period in
Germany. Between 1955 and 1973, millions of workers in countries including Italy,
Turkey, Greece or Portugal were hired for factory work in Germany. Industrialisation
and the ‘German economic miracle’ would have been unthinkable without
guest-workers. But at that time, their migration was understood as temporary – only
for the purpose of work. Initially, the men came to Germany to earn money without
their families, visiting their home countries as often as they could. Today,
when rationalisation means that there is less and less industrialised factory
work in Germany – either due to technological developments or to the emigration
of production locations and a steady decrease in commissions – and a negative
trend may be observed on the labour market, there are fewer and fewer guest workers,
but still many migrants. The term “guest-worker” is also disappearing
in our everyday, politically correct use of language. The correct, pithy reference
today – in face of socio-political processes such as the uniting of families
and naturalisation – is to Germans of Turkish or Italian origin.
Prolog: Wir sehen das Bild eines Mannes, der vor einer Häuserwand
steht. Links von ihm ist ein Teil eines vergitterten Souterrain-Fensters
zu sehen. Der Mann trägt einen dunklen Anzug, ein helles Hemd und
ist sorgfältig rasiert. Die Hosenbeine des Anzuges sind jedoch ein
wenig zu kurz für den Körper des Trägers. In der linken
Hand hält der Mann einen hellblauen Koffer, und mit der rechten Hand
streckt er eine rote aufgeblühte Rose den BetrachterInnen entgegen.
Seine Mimik ist ernst und zurückhaltend.
In Shahram Entekhabis Videoarbeit "Flower" (2004) ist dieses
Bild einerseits eine 210 x 300 cm große Malerei und andererseits
eine Projektionsfläche im mehrdeutigen Sinne. Formal gesehen wird
auf das gemalte Bild dessen Hintergrund, die Häuserwand, als eine
Straßenszene mit vorbeilaufenden Passanten projiziert. Die Malerei
beginnt durch die Videoprojektion zu leuchten. Damit geht eine inhaltliche
Wertung einher, denn die gemalte Figur ist nicht auf dem Videobild zu
sehen und bekommt dadurch im Gesamteindruck eine andere Materialität.
Sie passt weder in die leuchtende Wirkung der Malerei noch gliedert sie
sich in die vorbeigehenden Menschen ein. Die Figur des Mannes ist dadurch
anwesend und abwesend zugleich. Aufgrund dieses medialen Dazwischen wird
ein besonderes Augenmerk auf die Figur gelegt. Mit meinem kulturellen
Hintergrund interpretiere ich die gemalte Figur als Bild eines Gastarbeiters,
da die Bekleidung des Mannes in Deutschland diese Assoziation hervorruft.
(...)
Auszug aus einem Text von Doris Berger
download a compressed version of the simulation
simulation of the flower-installtion
painting and video by: Shahram Entekhabi