by Peter Schiering, Germany 2007, 35'
| SCREENPLAY: Peter Schiering | EDITING: Dietmar Deisler | |
| PHOTOGRAPHY: Ute Kersting-Johänner, Massimo Belluzzo |
SHOOTING FORMAT: digibeta | |
| PRODUCER: Matthias Brandt |
Presented at The Screen of the Arts 2009Controversial artist Gregor Schneider’s Black Cube has become the subject of a strong debate about the political value of public art and the icon of the objections that contemporary art can still raise. Inspired by the Holy Kaaba of Mecca and supposed to be exhibited in Piazza San Marco, Venice, the “Mecca” of millions of tourists, the artwork caused grave fears for terrorist attacks. For these reasons, the installation was rejected by the 2001 Venice Biennial and has found his final placement in the German city of Hamburg in March 2007. Peter Schiering tells the story of this work through the reflections and the reactions of artists, politicians, art critics, showing us how still today art can be a socio-political hotspot, and a tool for debating about the themes of the censorship and of the infamous clash of civilizations between East and West.
Peter Schiering
Peter Schiering is a popular German filmmaker, especially working on art, photography and new media. Since 1996 he has been working for the television channels ZDF and 3sat, mostly directing film reports for the cultural TV-magazines Aspekte and Kulturzeit. His film Beuys and Beuys won the 2006 special Evald Schorm award for the best program related to the Arts, and has been shown at many festivals in Germany, Canada, Italy, and Hungary.
Selected Filmography
2003 The Turner Prize 2003 2004 Andy Warhol; Gls and the Use of Images in Abu Ghraib; The Voice of Nigeria - Femi Kuti; The American Photographer Arnold Newman 2005 The First Berlin Photography Festival; The Artist Steve Kurtz in the Realm of the FBI; Art Collectors in Germany; The Holocaust Memorial in Berlin 2006 9_11 and the Arts; Beuys and Beuys 2007 Gregor Schneiders Cube Hamburg; What is Art; Documenta 12
www.zdf.de