CONSTANTIN HARTENSTEIN
ALPHA
Date: 2014
Length: 11:22 min.
Format: 16:9
Specifications: Colour, Sound, Single Channel
Courtesy the artist
3… 2… 1… Du schließt die Augen. Aber du schließt sie gar nicht – du liest. Es gibt zwei Sorten von Menschen auf der Welt: die, die führen und die, die folgen. Was für Einer bist du? Du willst persönlichen und beruflichen Erfolg? Du sehnst dich nach Anerkennung und Macht? Du wünschst, du hättest mehr Selbstvertrauen? Dann werde zum Alpha Male. Fokussiere dich auf deinen Ursprung, lass dich leiten und betrachte. Sehe und erkenne: In jedem Menschen steckt die Möglichkeit zu wachsen. Eine Videoanleitung, wie sie im Jahr 2014 allgegenwärtig ist. Durch Bilder sprechen und anleiten: Genau das konstruiert Constantin Hartenstein mit seiner Videoarbeit ALPHA. Eine Hypnose mit Werbecharakter trifft den Zeitgeist; die Thematik aber geht weit zurück bis in die Antike. Vergangenheit und Gegenwart stehen miteinander in Verbindung wie Ton, Bild und Betrachter. Die persönliche Ansprache des Betrachters ist langsam und eingehend. Durch immer wiederkehrende Zeitlupeverfahren wird dieser tonale Aspekt innerhalb seiner Zeitlichkeit auf eine visuelle Ebene übertragen. Der Kontrast zwischen Vergangenem und Aktuellem findet sich innerhalb verschiedener Darstellungsmotive wieder. Der moderne Mann aber hat keine Wahl mehr, entweder er ist überdeckt vom Schatten der anderen oder er steht selbst im Licht. Starte jetzt – reprogram your mind!
Hannah Semsarha
* 1982 in Herzberg GER, lebt und arbeitet in New York USA
Studium an der Universität der Künste Berlin GER und an der HBK Braunschweig GER
Interview:
» 1. Your work has been chosen among over 1200 festival entries to participate in VIDEONALE.15. In which context do you prefer to present your work, festival/cinema context or exhibition? And what kind of difference does the respective mode of presentation mean for you / your work?
Architectural configurations present opportunities to magnify a work’s content. What surrounds the work is equally important to me as how it is conceptualized. Both factors create the overall experience of a piece. Recently, I have been interested in what ways video art merges with ancillary media like sculpture, photography and installation to enhance current modes of video art presentation. Cinematic spaces might evoke very immediate emotional responses due to their specific setup. The audience is supposed to laugh and cry together. If a video art piece is shown in a gallery situation, visitors are usually encouraged to move around more freely. Therefore, each space of moving image experience asks for specific requirements. Best case scenario: the artist creates a piece that initiates a certain aesthetic perception in favor of engaging the audience. After all, we all want to have a good time.
» 2. How do you see “The Call of the Wild“ reflected in your work presented at VIDEONALE.15?
I created ALPHA as a comment on society’s superiority complex, dominating power structures, even the downfall of singular male power. The piece’s humor and ironic undertone highlights the gap between IRL-awkwardness and digital charade. With the Internet introducing hybrid strategies of accumulating social capital and amplifying confirmation-hungry authorship, new forms of pyramid-shaped hierarchies emerged. The contemporary alpha is the most liked, the one who has the most followers online. Today, most violent, wild and barbarian territorial battles are replaced with innovative ways of virtual, anonymous interacting. Bloody fights are no more necessary to climb up the social ladder. Ultimately, my piece requests a reconfiguration of the wild side inside of us; particularly discovering new wild forms of expression.
» 3. Can you describe your intention for doing art in one sentence?
Finding useful questions to insufficient answers.
» 4. In which way is the video medium an excellent possibility to express your intended subjects, especially in contrast to other media you use? Or do you work exclusively with video?
Video involves the viewer in a sophisticated, multi-sensory and time-based experience of art. It’s like driving through the car wash watching the brushes behind the windshield. Simply one of the best ways to stimulate your imagination, I’d claim. As a video artist, you can produce 25 images per second. Most painters don’t even accomplish that per year.
» 5. If you have the chance to ask the visitors of the VIDEONALE.15 exhibition questions about your own work, what would be your question?
Where did you find all those hot men?