re:site montréal

Felix S. Huber and Florian Wüst are in residency from April 25th to June 9th, 2005

re:site montréal consists of two interrelated parts: a group exhibition of works by German artists chosen by Felix S. Huber and Florian Wüst, and a media arts project produced by Huber and Wüst during their residency at OBORO. A component of the media arts project will be installed in Carré Saint-Louis.

re:site montréal appropriates the idea of everyday life as a film narrative. To a large extent determined by cinema, media and political spectacle, we perceive and understand the world through the eyes of cultural memory and collective imaginaries. Generally, the impact of modern image technologies on social life represents two sides of the same coin; on the one hand there is the threat of total control, and on the other hand the potential of performance and the creation of visibility are unleashed.

Combining photography, video, digital live projection, newspaper edition, and network installation, the exhibition explores the existing collusion of subjective perception and the permanent flux of information, of public and private spheres, reality and fiction. Other works in the show critically reflect on the behavioral patterns and architectural devices of power that increasingly guide our navigation and interaction in public space.

The media arts project situated in Carré Saint-Louis — a public park near OBORO — broadcasts two live video streams through the internet. These images and sounds are automatically mixed with prefabricated recordings and enacted scenes, both stored in a database, that match with and expand upon the actual scene at the site. The constantly changing audio-visual collage is played back in real time on monitors and speakers integrated into the structure in Carré Saint-Louis as well as through the internet at that can be accessed from a computer terminal set up in OBORO’s gallery. The ambiguous transparency of the project’s concept creates a stage with the gaze of cameras, which subverts the notion of closed circuit surveillance found in any large city in the world.

OBORO and the artists wish to thank Monique Savoie and Luc Courchesne as well as the SAT (Société des arts technologiques) for their generous support of this project.

This exhibition benefitted from the financial support of La Bavière au Québec, the City Council of Berlin, the institut für Auslandes beziehungen e. V. (ifa) and Pro Helvetia, the Arts Council of Switzerland.

Born in Zurich, Felix S. Huber is an artist working with photography, video and 3D animation. His work has been shown internationally, including P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center (New York, 1994), documenta X (Kassel, 1997), ZKM-Zentrum für Medientechnologie (Karlsruhe, 2002), and Centre pour l’image contemporaine Saint-Gervais (Genève, 2003). He lives in Berlin.

Born in Munich, Florian Wüst is an artist and curator of experimental film and video art, living in Berlin and Rotterdam. He has exhibited in art institutions and curated for festivals such as Tent (Rotterdam, 2000), the 48th International Short Film Festival (Oberhausen, 2002), Frankfurter Kunstverein (Frankfurt, 2004), and the 6th Werkleitz Biennale (Halle [Saale], 2004).

Ulrike Feser (*1970, Bonn) studied Communication Design and Photography at the University of Applied Sciences Bielefeld. In 1999, she received a DAAD postgraduate grant to travel to Hawaii. Her work has been shown at Stichting Duende, Rotterdam (2000); Bonner Kunstverein (2002); Haus am Waldsee (2003); Galerie Kamm, Berlin (2003); Ursula Blickle Foundation and Frankfurter Kunstverein (2004). She lives in Berlin.

Andrea Geyer (*1971, Freiburg/Breisgau) is an artist who lives and works in New York. She is a 2000 graduate of the Whitney Museum Independent Study Program, after studying Fine Arts and Photography in Germany. Exhibitions include Manifesta 4, Portikus, Frankfurt (2002); Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (2003); Secession, Vienna (2003); Kunstmuseum St. Gallen (2004); Witte de With, Rotterdam (2005).

Corinna Schnitt (*1964, Duisburg) is a filmmaker and artist living in Cologne. Her films have been widely screened at festivals such as International Short Film Festival Oberhausen, European Media Art Festival, Osnabrück, and International Filmfestival Rotterdam. Exhibitions include Galerie Olaf Stüber, Berlin (2003); Kunsthalle Hamburg (2004); Museum Het Valkhof, Nijmegen (2004); O.K Center for Contemporary Art, Linz (2005).

Wolfgang Staehle (*1950, Stuttgart) has been living in New York since 1976. In 1991, he founded THE THING, an independent media project which began as a bulletin board system (BBS) and became one of the seminal forums for net-art. His work has been shown at Kunsthalle Vienna (2001); transmediale.02, Berlin (2002); Fondation Cartier pour L'Art Contemporain, Paris (2003); Tate Modern, London (2004). Unmovie is an internet project created in 2002 by Axel Heide, onesandzeros, Philip Pocock and Gregor Stehle. The presentation of this interactive network installation changes with each exhibition.

Unmovie has been shown at ZKM - Zentrum für Medientechnologie, Karlsruhe (2002); Wood Street Galleries, Pittsburgh (2003); Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki (2003); DEAF Festival, Rotterdam (2004). http://www.unmovie.net

re:site montréal

Felix Stephan Huber and Florian Wüst
Ulrike Feser, Andrea Geyer, Corinna Schnitt, Wolfgang Staehle, Unmovie (Axel Heide, onesandzeros, Philip Pocock, Gregor Stehle)