Szeeman and Lenin Crossing the Alps
by Rudolf Herz, Germany 2020, 18'
SCREENPLAY: Rudolf Herz   SHOOTING: Martin Langner
EDITING: Julia Wahren, Thomas Herget   SOUND: Andrew Mottls
PRODUCER: Rudolf Herz   TEXTS: Herald Szeemann 
LANGUAGE: vo: German; sub: Italian    

Schermo dell'Arte - Archivio Film  Presented at Lo schermo dell'arte 2020 

In 2003, German artist Rudolf Herz involved the Swiss curator Halrald Szeemann in his project Lenin on Tour, in which a gigantic sculpture of Lenin and two other Russian Communist heroes is transported by truck to various European cities. The driver’s cabin becomes the set for a long interview. Years after Szeemann’;s death in 2005, the film is an intense portrait of the multifaceted and highly cultivated curator, a key figure in the development and reception of post-World War II contemporary art. Personal memories and tales of the convergence of art history and politics in the early 20th century are intertwined with the narration of his fascination with the utopian Monte Verità community, in Canton Ticino (which hosted Herman Hesse, Hugo Ball and Paul Klee, among others), whose anarchic-philosophical story he reconstructed in 1978 in an exhibition. In this extraordinary document, Szeemann gives a lucid vision of art’s role in society.

Rudolf Herz is a sculptor and media artist. His installation Zugzwang (1995) has been exhibited in numerous international museums and contemporary art centers including ZKM, Kunstverein Ruhr, MUDAC / Lausanne. He has made short films, including Ox No Ox: A Legend form Madagascar (2018), Revolution nr. 9 (2017).

Selected Filmography:
Revolution Nr. 9, 2017; Ox No Ox. A Legend from Madagascar, 2018; Vazaha. Young Madagascan
Directors, 2014; Lenin on Tour, 2009; Lenin, 2003.

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