American Night

Deep Gold is an homage to Luis Bunuel's surrealist film "The Golden Age" from 1930, which Bunuel made in collaboration with Salvador Dali. In his film, Bunuel confronted the values of the Catholic Church and the hypocritical bourgeois sexual morality of his time. Deep Gold functions like an additional insert in Bunuel's black and white film. It shows a world of desire and lust into which Modot, the protagonist in Bunel's film, is drawn and overwhelmed by the omnipresence of female sexuality.

An edited version of Rosefeldt's installation work of the same name, Manifesto is an outstanding tribute to various (art) manifestos of the nineteenth and twentieth century, ranging from Communism to Dogme, in connection with thirteen different characters, including a homeless man, a factory worker and a corporate CEO, who are all played by Cate Blanchett. A striking humorous audio-visual experience.

A journey through the history of capitalism and greed. Populated by surreal characters and animals, a dystopian New York serves as the backdrop for a hypnotizing trip deep into the complexity of human nature at its best and worst.

On the surface "The Swap" appears to parody a scene from a classic gangster film of covert dodgy dealings, yet Rosefeldt's manipulation thrusts it into contemporary reality. Set at a deserted container terminal, two rival mobs pull up in cars, about to perform the familiar briefcase exchange of concealed goods. Clad in leather, guns poised; Rosefeldt plays once again with our stereotypical expectations, luring the viewer into a sense of familiarity until an unpredictable turn challenges our perception and exacerbates seemingly subtle aspects of their behaviour.

What does the past of a distant future look like? A distant future to which humankind will be driven by the forces of neoliberal capitalism, climate change, populism, and the pervasive intrusion of one’s private sphere through digital technology? Julian Rosefeldt’s film Penumbra is not a work of science fiction. Instead, it points to our current situation, albeit within a fictious framework that paves the way for a paradoxical enigma: who will we be when we are gone?