Introduction by Lioba Steinkamp

Let me start by giving you a short overview of the subject from my perspective in order to understand my line of thoughts:
Let us assume that the interpretation each one of us gives of the world, is different.
It is different since we have different backgrounds, different experiences and different memories that create different desires.

The term reality therefore becomes a metaphor which could lead us to the conclusion that we could think of life as a substance we can mold pretty much like a sculpture. We can accomplish this through re-interpreting our image of what we call reality and by consciously using our imagination.

If we realize that we are not bound to our habitual interpretation, we gain an enormous amount of inner freedom. We can cross these imaginary boundaries by giving any interpretation to our lives we want to. This gives room to the unknown and the ability to re-interpret the world for ourselves as we want it to be.

In fact, we could see art as a method to slightly change our perception or - to speak in Sheldrakes' terms - to change our morphogenetic field by concentrating our focus on something that lies outside our daily routine.

I see film as the perfect medium to help us crossing the borders of our interpretations. Film is not just about entertainment - it is a door to a fictive world inside your own mind.
Films, for example, such as The Matrix implicate the Platonic idea, combined with political and social suggestions that seems to fit very well in nowadays. The Matrix also gives us a good idea of how de-materialization and an interruption of the time-flow might look like.

Through analogy and implied morals the media seem to offer us different possibilities how to live our life. Here lies the beauty and the danger of the medium. We can't help it but are - to a certain extent - a product of accumulated interpretations of role models. It could be the new Calvin Klein model, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sartre, Jane Goodell or some popstar. Who knows. (You do).

So why not face this fact and use it for our own purposes?

We have a variety of identification models that exist simultaneously in our brain, reflected in a parallelism of realities that evolve within ourselves. It is from this set of parallel realms that we can constantly choose.

Due to this dilemma/opportunity of having to choose from the innumerable alternatives (even if temporary) I revealed the simultaneous existence of different alter egos within myself.

film analysis by robin brouwer

1. Subjectivity / Nomadism
From a philosophical point of view the project deals with the problem of human subjectivity in contemporary society. Subjectivity is understood and approached as a multi layered reservoir which contains a manifold of separate universes.
The first aspect of this approach involves a videotape which is given to the participants to take with them on their journey. The tape contains a collection of film samples which add to the personal (and fictional) history of the specific participant. The tape shows a collage of small fragmented and distorted stories, perspectives and data coming from a wide range of film images. The traveller is free to make use of these samples, to reflect on them and compare them with his/her own experiences. The tape can be seen as an abstract survival kit, a possible toolbox containing samples and options; a fictional and personal history.
The destination forms a second important layer which adds to the complexity of subjectivity. The new environment is to be understood as a film location in which the participant lives his or her personal film. Due to this space - time related condition (the local scenery, climatic influences, 'couleur locale', the length of the stay) the participant will start to interact with the local environment.
This real experience is both referring to the fictional and the real. The 'personage quality' of the travel (the chosen location, the videotape and the goal of the project) refers to a fictional and artificial dimension of the personal situation. At the same time the experience is taking place in the real thus producing 'real' thoughts, feelings and perceptions. Being there 'in the real' therefore at the same time implies producing the fictional.
The third layer is produced within the domains of representation. By documenting the experiences on film (video), subjectivity is being represented. This level of interpretation adds to the complexity of subjectivity. It produces not only a description of the real as experienced at the location, it also 'doubles' the fictional condition of the project which implies that the video will present 'a film of a film'.
The three layers as formulated here present existential, social and aesthetical complexeties, crossing the perception of modern subjectivity. The personal profile which is used to characterize the personage links up with many aspects of his personal situation. The out-law type is used for a person who resembles an 'out-law character'. By producing a film collage which defines these character aspects in a fragmented way and by choosing a location which matches this profile, the characterisation of the personal becomes fictional. The traveller or participant, who arrives at the location in the knowledge that he/she has to make a filmed registration of the project him-/herself, arrives in the 'in between' domain which separates the real and the fictional. The participant gets to a state of 'becoming', a condition in the real which is not grounded by 'being' but is driven by 'becoming'. The hard line between the real and the fictional is broken down: subjectivity is encountering the virtual.
The fourth dimension is unfold when the project is presented. All the material which is used and produced during the project will be shown together in an exhibition, interconnecting the different layers of subjectivity.2. Film Interpretation/ AnalysisApart from the fact that the project is strongly focused on the problem of contemporary subjectivity, it also implies a new approach of film-interpretation and film analysis.
The film collage which is being used to provide the participants with a 'filmic' and fictional field of reference for their experiences at the location, is based on the principle of fragmentation. Major works of well known directors are cut and reconstructed; film is sampled to produce a mixture of different moments and perspectives. We can call this method 'post-narrative'. The original film story is deconstructed by a process of sampling which is not focused on the linear composition of the film, but which is concentrated on the abstract image which presents itself as a small visual film sequence. The sample ( which can even last only a few seconds ) refers to a range of intensities and imagination (thought, feeling and perception) on the side of the spectator. This implies that the sample or film part is not directed towards the inner logic of the original film, but is pointed towards possible links or connections with human subjectivity outside the film.
For example, a sample containing a heroic moment at a battle field can be connected to many imaginations and intensities on the side of the spectator. These subjective experiences can refer to completely different emotions, memories and desires.
This underlines the abstract quality of the sample; it is an abstract image cut loose from the original narrative. The context of the original film (the time it was made, the name of the director or its place in film history) has disappeared.
The sample of a film is connected to virtual experiences at a location and is also linked with other forms of representation ( e.g. communication on internet, recording, ... ).Thus the sample does not only appear for aesthetic purposes ( like in the case of a party v.j.), it certainly becomes a generator to produce and distribute experiences in daily life.
This approach of film is one step towards a new post-narrative film analysis or interpretation as it breaks with the traditional narrative and often psychoanalytical ( subject related ) approach of film.