#19: Oliver Pietsch

Developed through filmic montage, Oliver Pietsch’s films are marked by a solid archival testimony to cinematic and audiovisual culture. From old films to more recent ones, from documentary to independent cinema through to Hollywood block-busters, the artist plays around with fictional re-interpretations, intrinsically creating a new narrative. The themes of these montages often take on an obscure exploration of human emotions and psychological torments. There is no discourse or critical posture: the artist offers a dreamlike space where each one is free to navigate in his own way, and leaving his own feelings and narrations emerge.

Oliver Pietsch celebrates the premiere of

From Here to Eternity, 2010, 40:00 min
From Here to Eternity explores the theme of death in the history of cinema; the artist addresses with a hint of humor the idea of immortality interpreted by actors through the course of time. The film is composed of three chapters inviting the viewer to step into a mental wandering, and provoking feelings of recognition and empathy that ultimately lead to narrative re-interpretations rooted in our personal concerns. While the first chapter centers on the physical implications of death such as the “last breath” and other inflicted and external violence, the second chapter explores a much more introspective and contemplative side devoted to the fear of death and the irrepressible emotions associated with it. The third and final chapter however naturally progresses to explore the notions relating to the realm of the afterlife and the metaphorical visions of heaven, hell and any intermediary state. Pietsch’s poetic approach to this universal subject is emphasized by his choice of the final voice-over in the film which suggests to think of death as “a dream from which you would never again wake up”.

Oliver Pietsch (b. 1972 in Munich, Germany) lives and works in Berlin. He graduated from the Academy of Arts in Munich in 2003. His work has been included in numerous international exhibitions and festivals such as Under Influence at the Kunsthaus Dresden, Cine Y Casi Cine at the Museo National Reina Sofia Madrid, as well as the Edinburgh International Film Festival, Her(his)tory at the Museum of Cycladic Art (Athens), and the International Short Film Festival (Oberhausen). Further film festivals over the past three years include Transmediale (Berlin), VideoEx (Zürich), INCAA (Buenos Aires), and the London Film Festival. His work has appeared in Sleek Magazine, Time Out New York, ART Magazine, Flash Art and Art Review.

Oliver Pietsch’s web site: www.oliverpietsch.de