Markus Butkereit
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Himmelfahrt Nr. 1 - 53
Himmelfahrt Nr. 1 - 53
Material/ hot air ballons
2010/ Berlin/ Germany
Video/ HD/ 11 min.
Camera/ Markus Butkereit
Editing/ Markus Butkereit
https://vimeo.com/494811053
Each canvas above
Material/ Acryl, Oil on canvas
Measures/ 120 x 200 cm
20.12.09/ Schiffbauerdamm Luisenstr
26.01.10/ Dorotheenstr Neustädtische Kirchstr
25.01.10/ Berliner Freiheit Bellevuestr
16.11.09/ Michaelkirchbrücke
for more informations
http://www.urban-art.info/englisch/exhibitions/past/himmelfahrt/«««
In Himmelfahrt Nr. 1-53 the artist focuses on indirect transfer processes based on field
observation. The works exhibited record, in an abstract form, ephemeral events and visualize time.
The artist´s method is similar to the one of a research scientist, who sets up, runs, studies and
analyzes an experiment. For several weeks he constructed hot-air balloons, wrote down weather
forecasts and looked for places to fly 53 balloons and watch them being moved by the wind and
thereby visualize the movements of the wind. A hot-air balloon goes with the wind, just as fast
and into the same direction. It lies still in the wind. The documentation of the flight, of the action
in the outdoor space, plays an important part in his work. A film shows sequences of flying balloons –
sometimes distant small points, moving fast; sometimes clearly visible, slowly ascending.
The camera angle is fixed, it just shows a section of the city and the vast sky.
The film is an independent work as well as part of the experimental process. The shots serve
the artist to transform the observed movements. He copies the positions of every balloon on
transparent paper, frame by frame, point by point. Many single points form a line. He traces the way of
every balloon and re-experiences the lapse of time. In the next step these balloon lines are
transferred on canvas. The pure movement, in form of a white line on glossy black canvas, archives and
abstracts the balloon flight. The time it takes to apprehend the line takes the place of the
actual duration of the flight.
Text/ Iris Hempelmann