PART OF THE EXHIBITION BEYOND IMAGINATION  

Christian Friedrich, "Untitled", 2011, video installation
Location: Teijin Auditorium, dates: 23 Sep–6 Oct

German artist Christian Friedrich (Freiburg, DE, 1977) studied Protestant theology at the University of Tübingen and Heidelberg (DE) and sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Dresden and Karlsruhe (DE). Friedrich was a resident at de Ateliers (2007-2009) and at the International Studio and Curatorial Program (ISCP) in New York (US, 2009-2010). He has exhibited in several venues including Städtische Galerie am ZKM, Karlsruhe (DE, 2009), c/o Einraumhaus, Mannheim (DE, 2010), PAKT, Amsterdam (2011) and Galerie Wilfried Lentz, Rotterdam (2012).

Christian Friedrich’s hyperactive video installation combines an intrusive flow of images with a deafening soundtrack. Surrendering to this work and interpreting the images and sounds poses a considerable challenge to the viewer. Friedrich constructed his experimental video from a handful of clips that constantly recur in varying constellations, and partly in negative, complementary color. Images of the earth from the German Aerospace Center, are juxtaposed with Friedrich’s own filmic material, which features a boy with checkered swimming shorts in the surf on the beach and underwater images of the same boy in a swimming pool. Friedrich initially edited the work one frame at a time on the basis of a set matrix. In the final montage, however,he adopted a more intuitive rhythm.