The text is the voiceover of a film I made about an unrealized collaborative project while I was an exchange student in Berlin in 2007. The two images are stills from the same film. Even though the original project was unrealized, a work about the unreali
WE DON’T EVEN KNOW HOW TO END THIS MISERY
This is the story about a failed group project. We met at Kunsthochschule Weissensee where we were exchange students. We all had problems starting to work and that was probably the main reason we collaborated. We were three from Norway, two from the Netherlands and one from Finland. Our starting point was an area in the outskirts of Prenzlauer Berg, which consists of a large space with asphalt surrounded by trees, bushes, weed and garbage. The place is most often used as a short cut to the S-bahnstation or to walk the dog. We knew almost nothing about the space, and it was a random choice. I think we all thought that this project was a good opportunity to get started and really get something done. Instead we didn’t do anything but have meetings, and everybody got more frustrated than ever.
We had so many ideas, but we could never agree on which was the best. We had a lot of ideas that could have been realised and many that were totally unrealistic.
For a while we wanted to do some kind of archaeological dig, but then it got so cold that nobody wanted to be outside for several days digging. We thought about doing it for only a couple of hours instead, but lost faith in the idea and it didn’t happen.
Domenique wanted to occupy the place for a week; for example by sitting on a chair. But when he thought about it he decided he would rather do it on Alexanderplatz. The rest of us weren’t so keen on occupation.
I wanted to cut the carpet to shreds, and then make a labyrinth with them. Some of the others thought it was a good idea, but they didn’t want to do it.
Somebody wanted to collect all the garbage lying around and put it up in a tree. We also talked about building a sculpture out of the garbage. I don’t really remember why it didn’t happen, but somebody probably disagreed.
Nina wanted to make a human costume for one of the trees, but since we didn’t manage to do anything in that place, she put it up in Tiergarten instead.
Jarle wanted to cast his hand in silicon and let it come out of a hole in the middle of the asphalt. There was also supposed to be some sound and I think he was going to do it later on but I’m not sure.
Somebody wanted to drill up the asphalt and then plant grass there. But then we found out that it was probably expensive and difficult to get the machine. Besides we weren’t sure we were allowed to do it.
Doris had an idea she never told us about, or maybe I just don’t remember it. I think she found out that she could have done it anywhere and therefore there was no point doing it in that place.
I thought we could use the place as a stage for performance and concerts, but I don’t even think I told the others.
For a while we thought about everybody doing his or her own project in an attempt to compromise. We thought about dividing the place between us and doing all the individual projects at the same time. We also thought about doing one project each week. Then we decided to do something together again.
We talked about covering the billboard with something else, but we weren’t sure how legal that was. We thought it might be less illegal to cover the back, but somebody thought there was no point if you don’t even dare to cover commercials.
Somebody wanted to dig a large hole underneath the asphalt, but after some thinking we realised that it would be too much work and besides, the ground could be frozen and the asphalt could have collapsed.
We never agreed on an idea we could do together, and we couldn’t agree on how to do anything separately. We had a lot of meetings where we discussed the different ideas. Each meeting started really well, with everybody being enthusiastic and having a lot of ideas. After a while we started to become more critical and the energy dropped. We would then finish the meeting and schedule a new one.
We spent some time talking about what the place could have been. We thought it was weird with the large asphalt space and all the things sticking up, some of which looked like they could have come from houses that weren’t there anymore. The place itself looked like a space for parking, we thought it could have been a gas station, but didn’t think it very likely.
After a while we found out that it had been one of the border stations, actually the first that let people cross from east to west, starting the fall of the Berlin wall. We could have looked more into it, but possibly we were afraid that it would affect us too much; at least in relation to the archaeological digging we at some point decided to do. But then we changed our minds again.
At the last meeting we decided to only present our ideas since we couldn’t agree on anything. The idea was that people could see possibilities for what can be done with the space, but then we couldn’t agree on how to present the ideas. Somebody wanted to make signs, somebody wanted to make trestles and somebody wanted to use the back of the billboard. Somebody wanted to write by hand and make it look a bit like a sketch, but somebody else thought we should make it on a computer and print it. In the end we gave up and decided to have a picnic instead.
We met in the middle of the space at 11 o’clock on a cold Thursday in November. Everybody brought some food and somebody brought a white cloth we used to cover a block of cement to use as a table. We had grapes, biscuits, cheese, muffins, gingerbread, tea and chocolate cars. We also had champagne, it was really sekt, to celebrate that we were finally finished. Somebody brought a radio that played Enya, I don’t really remember what else it played, but it was the same style.
During the picnic Doris started to make temporary art with ice she found. The ice melted pretty fast on the asphalt.
Jarle ate the only pink chocolate car, and tried to cover it up by wrapping the paper around another chocolate car.
We wrote down all the ideas we could remember and put them in a tiny coffin somebody had bought at Pfennymarkt. We decided to bury the coffin, but couldn’t agree on where. Besides we were all cold and tired. The majority decided to bury it in the hole in the middle of the asphalt. Jarle was supposed to bury it, but instead he threw it at a random place in the hole. He was so fast that I didn’t even have time to film it. Domenique wasn’t satisfied with the placement, so he moved it a little and covered it with a few rocks.
The coffin with all the failed ideas might still be there.
THE END
The text is the voiceover of a film I made about an unrealized collaborative project while I was an exchange student in Berlin in 2007. The two images are stills from the same film. Even though the original project was unrealized, a work about the unreali
WE DON’T EVEN KNOW HOW TO END THIS MISERY
This is the story about a failed group project. We met at Kunsthochschule Weissensee where we were exchange students. We all had problems starting to work and that was probably the main reason we collaborated. We were three from Norway, two from the Netherlands and one from Finland. Our starting point was an area in the outskirts of Prenzlauer Berg, which consists of a large space with asphalt surrounded by trees, bushes, weed and garbage. The place is most often used as a short cut to the S-bahnstation or to walk the dog. We knew almost nothing about the space, and it was a random choice. I think we all thought that this project was a good opportunity to get started and really get something done. Instead we didn’t do anything but have meetings, and everybody got more frustrated than ever.
We had so many ideas, but we could never agree on which was the best. We had a lot of ideas that could have been realised and many that were totally unrealistic.
For a while we wanted to do some kind of archaeological dig, but then it got so cold that nobody wanted to be outside for several days digging. We thought about doing it for only a couple of hours instead, but lost faith in the idea and it didn’t happen.
Domenique wanted to occupy the place for a week; for example by sitting on a chair. But when he thought about it he decided he would rather do it on Alexanderplatz. The rest of us weren’t so keen on occupation.
I wanted to cut the carpet to shreds, and then make a labyrinth with them. Some of the others thought it was a good idea, but they didn’t want to do it.
Somebody wanted to collect all the garbage lying around and put it up in a tree. We also talked about building a sculpture out of the garbage. I don’t really remember why it didn’t happen, but somebody probably disagreed.
Nina wanted to make a human costume for one of the trees, but since we didn’t manage to do anything in that place, she put it up in Tiergarten instead.
Jarle wanted to cast his hand in silicon and let it come out of a hole in the middle of the asphalt. There was also supposed to be some sound and I think he was going to do it later on but I’m not sure.
Somebody wanted to drill up the asphalt and then plant grass there. But then we found out that it was probably expensive and difficult to get the machine. Besides we weren’t sure we were allowed to do it.
Doris had an idea she never told us about, or maybe I just don’t remember it. I think she found out that she could have done it anywhere and therefore there was no point doing it in that place.
I thought we could use the place as a stage for performance and concerts, but I don’t even think I told the others.
For a while we thought about everybody doing his or her own project in an attempt to compromise. We thought about dividing the place between us and doing all the individual projects at the same time. We also thought about doing one project each week. Then we decided to do something together again.
We talked about covering the billboard with something else, but we weren’t sure how legal that was. We thought it might be less illegal to cover the back, but somebody thought there was no point if you don’t even dare to cover commercials.
Somebody wanted to dig a large hole underneath the asphalt, but after some thinking we realised that it would be too much work and besides, the ground could be frozen and the asphalt could have collapsed.
We never agreed on an idea we could do together, and we couldn’t agree on how to do anything separately. We had a lot of meetings where we discussed the different ideas. Each meeting started really well, with everybody being enthusiastic and having a lot of ideas. After a while we started to become more critical and the energy dropped. We would then finish the meeting and schedule a new one.
We spent some time talking about what the place could have been. We thought it was weird with the large asphalt space and all the things sticking up, some of which looked like they could have come from houses that weren’t there anymore. The place itself looked like a space for parking, we thought it could have been a gas station, but didn’t think it very likely.
After a while we found out that it had been one of the border stations, actually the first that let people cross from east to west, starting the fall of the Berlin wall. We could have looked more into it, but possibly we were afraid that it would affect us too much; at least in relation to the archaeological digging we at some point decided to do. But then we changed our minds again.
At the last meeting we decided to only present our ideas since we couldn’t agree on anything. The idea was that people could see possibilities for what can be done with the space, but then we couldn’t agree on how to present the ideas. Somebody wanted to make signs, somebody wanted to make trestles and somebody wanted to use the back of the billboard. Somebody wanted to write by hand and make it look a bit like a sketch, but somebody else thought we should make it on a computer and print it. In the end we gave up and decided to have a picnic instead.
We met in the middle of the space at 11 o’clock on a cold Thursday in November. Everybody brought some food and somebody brought a white cloth we used to cover a block of cement to use as a table. We had grapes, biscuits, cheese, muffins, gingerbread, tea and chocolate cars. We also had champagne, it was really sekt, to celebrate that we were finally finished. Somebody brought a radio that played Enya, I don’t really remember what else it played, but it was the same style.
During the picnic Doris started to make temporary art with ice she found. The ice melted pretty fast on the asphalt.
Jarle ate the only pink chocolate car, and tried to cover it up by wrapping the paper around another chocolate car.
We wrote down all the ideas we could remember and put them in a tiny coffin somebody had bought at Pfennymarkt. We decided to bury the coffin, but couldn’t agree on where. Besides we were all cold and tired. The majority decided to bury it in the hole in the middle of the asphalt. Jarle was supposed to bury it, but instead he threw it at a random place in the hole. He was so fast that I didn’t even have time to film it. Domenique wasn’t satisfied with the placement, so he moved it a little and covered it with a few rocks.
The coffin with all the failed ideas might still be there.
THE END