Out in a green meadow, with bird formations flying in the background, the classic group portrait pose of “smiling in the direction of the camera” was modified by an attitude of refusal expressed by the protagonists. Their gazes eluded the observer, their heads were turned away and towards the sky in unity.
At the “Museum der Bildenden Künste” the focus of the performance was shifted to the act of positioning oneself within the field of art. The group takes position in front of the founders’ mosaic, doubling the group portrait of the solemn personalities depicted with the unpretentious attitude of the aspiring artists, while testing out their own endurance in this terrain of art in a long-term performance.
At the office of Franz Alken and Alba D’Urbano the classic portrait situation was finally dissolved and the unity of the group was manifested by an impenetrable collective action, which, among other aspects, associatively refers to the collective work process.
This edition has been made in the context of the Rundgang (Open Studios) project of the same title in February 2008. Three different video group portraits, which represent the members of the class as a unity, are part of this fine art edition. Each of them is available for sale separately.
The individual subjects and situations for the group portraits were developed by the members of the class: a public space (a park), a site to collect and show fine art objects (a museum) and a room to teach fine art (the teacher’s office) were selected as stages for the individual videos and thus reflect hypothetical steps in the development of the work of the class.
The format of choice was the “moving still”, an apparent video still which is actually created by the motionless stance of the protagonists.