Africa is Calling

Year
2006

Country
Spain

Technique
Video
Installation

Length
24′

On a country road near Tarifa there is a rest area with a beautiful view on the African coast.

A man filming his wife with the Moroccan coast as background. Then, we see her filming him, while he is taking pictures of her.

People enter the scene and leave it again. They stay for a moment, watching, changing perspectives and handling their cameras while movements and actions resemble.

Every year people drown in the attempt of crossing the Strait of Gibraltar from the Moroccan coast. The gateway to Europe. The border fences have been built higher in order to keep people from entering the Spanish enclaves Ceuta and Melilla. The gateway is closed.

A young man places his camera on a little wall, presses the self timer and jumps over to his girlfriend. They are kissing with the Moroccan coast as background.

Swivel to a ringing mobile phone:

Welcome to maroc telecom network,

for assistance please dial 444,

our international roaming call center.

A boy looking through a binocular. “I love Barcelona”, he says. A group of tourists are watching a herd of cows; others are looking on a Flamenco dancer in Granada. „What do they see?“

Namibia in 1991.

The daily routine of a Namibian large landowner, mistress of a ranch and of its workers. All of a sudden, the sight of the camera changes from contemplative to questing, the positioning vanishes, and the ethics (we see a dying animal) becomes suspect. Now the question is: “Who is watching?”

The cameras, mobile phones and binoculars hit the target range of a rifle meet at gun sight; contemplation meets the act of killing. The clinical view on the “strange” becomes uptight and bewildered and what had been “familiar” seems strange now.

Idea for the presentation of “Africa is calling “

The visitors enter a room that is separated by an abstract wall. At eye level there is a broad vision slit. At a distance of 2 meters the video is screened onto a wall

FollowFb.Ins.
...

This is a unique website which will require a more modern browser to work!

Please upgrade today!