The longing for manifestos continues unbroken. This is shown by Julian Rosefeldt’s (b. 1965) film installation Manifesto, which was on view at Hamburger Bahnhof in 2016. 13 films running in parallel bring angry, young, amazingly topical sounding words to the screen. For each film, Rosefeldt combined historical original texts from numerous manifestos. The thematic and performative energy of the proclamations is inscribed with the vivacity and the angry cry of a young generation.
By cutting and combining texts, 13 poetic monologues resulted. Rosefeldt combines them with his interest in the world of labor and life of the present and brings the manifesto texts together with situations from the today, where women hold public or interior monologues. These were embodied and performed by the Australian actress Cate Blanchett. The individual films develop a range of highly individual personalities: using costume, make-up, film sites, and her fine acting, Blanchett transforms herself into figures as varied as a schoolteacher, a puppeteer, a broker, a funeral orator, and a homeless man.
© VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2016
