Peter Tscherkassky / Miniaturen

Miniaturen -

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Many Berlin Artists in Hoisdorf

additional footage :
with :

Rolf-Peter Baacke, Anne-Claire Martin
Rolf-Peter Baacke, Fritz Balthaus, Ingrid Buschmann, Frieder Butzmann, Caspar, Werner Durand, Karl-Heinz Eckert, Antje Fels, Gerti Fietzek, Christoph Hahn, Folke Hanfeld, Peter Hilber, Thomas Kapielski, Thomas Kiesel, Julia Kliesch, Nils Krüger, Lucie, Anne-Claire Martin, Ulli Polomski, Fritz Rahmann, Thomas Rug, Kade Schacht, Thomas Schulz, Nanaé Suzuki, Peter Tscherkassky u.v.a.)

The semi-documentary footage used for "Miniaturen - viele Berliner Künstler in Hoisdorf" ("Miniatures--Many Berlin Artists in Hoisdorf") was shot on June 3, 4 and 5, 1983. That weekend, in what was deemed a "country outing," an impressive number of artists from Berlin (about 50 people, including the fans) went to a small village in Schleswig-Holstein; their intention was to give the local residents a taste of Berlin's avant-garde art. This event, organized by Thomas Kapielski and Peter Hilber ("Artists dispatches hilber-kapielski"), included presentations of dance, music, performance art, painting, land art and film.

Back in Berlin the footage was manipulated in several ways to produce an "experimental examination." The final version was never officially released, as it was intended to be nothing more than a personal interpretation of a few - mainly peripheral - moments in Hoisdorf and a subjective reminiscence for the participants. Its official premiere took place at a fabulous reunion party held on September 24, 1983 at Berlin's legendary "Lunapark".

Thomas Kapielski, who has since attained considerable prominence also in the field of literature ("Gottesbeweise", "Sozialmanierismus", etc.), contributed the wonderful soundtrack, which was recorded during a night session on September 22, 1983. In this soundtrack, short compositions by Kapielski alternate with a conversation between the musician and the film director, in which individual sequences of the film (projected simultaneously) are explained and commented upon. That talk was recorded live - listen for example for the ringing telephone which suddenly bursts into the recording session towards the end of the miniature "Breakfast als Hilber". Due also to live sound manipulations performed with a synthesizer, a great deal of that conversation remains incomprehensible.

"Miniatures" was created during the same early Super-8 period as "Freeze Frame" and "Urlaubsfilm." A growing interest in these early works was the reason for releasing it, at least as a bonus track. "Miniatures" contains some of my experiments in Super-8 format from the early 1980s which do not appear in the later films in the same form.

The dialogue:

Thomas Kapielski:
So, now first of all comes "Thus S pake...." [Zarathustra]. ... It's running, there's the leader, the whole time. ... Well, you could say it's starting now... So, yes, yes. Now it really starts.

Peter Tscherkassky: Okay.

TK: "Miniatures". Rock on!! ... [laughing] ... right away, don't dilly-dally! [laughing]

PT: That has a blue tint, because it was filmed without daylight filter, but a lot of it was refilmed later with a daylight filter.

TK: Ah, here, now! Ah, there's that tilted picture! And here I had some crackling... a crackling sound... hay in hay...
[miniature "Burning Balthausstrawfirehay": Fritz Balthaus (turning)]

PT: "Promenade"

TK: Ah, that's the "Promenade"? .... So, now the first pan. Pan.

PT: Yes, and there's the kiosk.
[miniature "Kiosk": Ingrid Buschmann (shaking), Rolf-Peter Baacke (running), Thomas Kapielski (climbing)]

TK: Flicker, flicker. Flickering sound...

PT: "Promenade" two.

TK: That's supposed to be the pan? .... And now here's byside and inside. [Peter Hilber (pointing)]... And now this is... no, this is...

PT: ...Kathrin and the bus driver.
[miniature "Intertwist"]

TK: ...that intricate interlocked picture! Ah, that's on the way home. ... Sweet Antje [Fels]! ... Picture within picture within picture! The formal principle of this film: picture within picture within picture.

PT: Right is [Fritz] Rahmann. And to the left is a panning shot through the rear window of the stage, with that axe: that's an hommage to [Alfred] Hitchcock.

TK: You know what, I'm going to turn out the lights, so we can see better!

PT: Penny Lane's barber shop [Lucie, Antje (fighting)].

TK: That is unavoidable. And when you get older, it gets worse: you always say what you see.

PT: "Promenade" three.

TK: And here I thought that we should take some voices. Recordings, a talk or something like that. With Hahn. Snatches of conversation. Does that picture in picture thing come now? No...

PT: The one with Hahn? No, that comes later on.

TK: Whose legs are those?

PT: Free Wheelin' Franklin's [both laugh]
[miniature "Legs"]

TK: Ah, yes, yes, and now the pan again! .... Ah, and now comes Hahn!
[miniature "Heavenly guitarist who loves strong beer": Christoph Hahn (guitar)]

TK: Now comes the tractor!
[miniature "Tractor": we see and hear Hoisdorf's local mushroom grower's union tractor - an hommage to John Cage, arranged by Frieder Butzmann (with the mike) and Thomas Kapielski (in front of the tractor)] .

TK: .... and the panning shot!

PT: Ah, yes: X films A. A films B. B photographs C while being filmed by X.

TK: Aha! Aha! All of a sudden that wide shot! All of a sudden it's all clear!
[Werner Durand (ball & sax)]
[Nanaé Suzuki (walking by)]
[Gerti Fietzek (back & forth)]

TK: The pan.
[miniature "Breakfast at Hilber"; silhouette: Anne-Claire Martin]

TK: Here comes the pan again, the pan comes again, yes, indeed.
[miniature "Hahnanne Pull"]

PT: ... now you see Hahn pulling Anne. ... From outside you see Hahn pulling Anne. And now you see what Anne is filming while Hahn is pulling her. That's Anne's perspective.

TK: The picture in the picture...

PT: In the frame, since it's seen from outside. But with a time delay.

TK: And all that synchronized.

PT: No, it's not! It's delayed!

TK: Yes, exactly, but if only it could be time synchronized! [laughing] ... Again the pan. This would be a good time for"Die Tonkneter" ["The Tone Moulders"]. [Julia Kliesch, Nils Krüger (with musical vacuum cleaners); Butzmann/Kapielski (with loudspeaker); Thomas Kiesel (within the belly of the bus); Franz Schubert (distorted)].