Magdalena Kröner
Cross Dissolve
-two films by Rolf A. Kluenter
Rolf A. Kluenter’s films are characterized by a casual and simultaneously contemplative
aesthetic. They result from a nomadic perception which is driven by his constant
movement between East and West. The applied term “Cross Dissolve” is used in a metaphorical
sense – interlinking different cultures, different layers of time and different emotional
temperatures. Formally “Tharu Village” and “Urban Retreat” appear as slightly uncontrolled,
coexisting parallel filmsequences that attack our perception. They are shot in a
dreamlike state, both perceived from within a movement as well as from an elevated
static perspective. Day and night sequences, documentary and epic gestures clash,
in both locations – the archaic appearing village in Nepal and the busy and impulsive
metropolis in China, where unexpectedly the “archaic” surfaces. The central motif
represents a young woman in a beauty salon, constantly filmed in close-ups, who is
receiving a facial. Her treatment consists of various cosmetic masks applied to her
face. This long gradually circling shot is filmed so the woman connects the heterogeneously
appearing layers of content – in this way she points to the variety and differences
of cultural practices and connects various layers of time – the present and the intruding
past. At a subway construction site, typical for the urban environment of Shanghai,
an antique tomb containing two well preserved female bodies from the Ming Dynasty
was discovered with whom Kluenter virtually engaged in dialogue. Interweaving two
audio-visual layers, which should be parallely perceived, constantly overlapping
but allowing for empty sequences, Kluenter seizes the attention of the viewer with
a densely hypnotic and visual texture. With their convergent times the sequences
are rhythmically shifting and competing, capturing the attention again and again.
Paris may have generated the European flaneur, which at the turn of the century seismographically
registered the city’s atmosphere. At the beginning of a new millennium a city like
Shanghai inspires nomadic positions as represented by Rolf A. Kluenter, who brings
stories, images and found objects from his journeys. They offer constantly new ground
for a dialogue.
[published in the exhibition catalog ‘farther.beyond.,2007, timezone 8, Hong kong]