Light Year 71: Digital Fairy Tales: Water Stories (Wassermärchen)
Special Presentation:
Lange Nacht der Kunst
Ahrenshoop, Germany on Saturday, August 21st!
Screening at 7:30p/8:30/9:30p CEST
Lots of other great programs happening that night, as well - click here for more information!
Previous Events:
Thursday, March 4th, 2021
ONLINE: 2-10pm EST
LIVE: Dusk - 10pm @ Pearl Street Triangle; DUMBO, Brooklyn
Berlin Premiere:
SCOPE BLN
Lübecker Straße 43, 10559 Berlin
Thursday, March 4th, 6-9pm CET
Digital Fairy Tales: Water Stories (Wassermärchen) is a continuation of the Digital Fairy Tales series which takes inspiration and direction from German folk tales collected by Franz Xaver von Schoenwerth, a civil servant and archivist in the mid 19th century. Giants and water people cavort with peasants, royalty and crafty creatures in underwater worlds, castles and forests.
These stories were created once upon a time, long before our digital reality and were collected and held by von Schoenwerth in his archive in Regensburg, Germany. Contemporary creatives have brought the stories into a New World and offer us an opportunity to look back in time through their unique and varied lenses.
Featuring new work from: Mighty Kongbot + LAMA, Juliane Pieper + Sea of Daisies, Thomas D. Rotenberg + Josh Graham, Jim Ellis, Vadim Schaeffler + Alex Hamadey, Julia Obst + Mark Fernyhough, and Jonathan Phelps with Joel Barlow, Katie Walker, Kaci Contompasis, Stephen Phelps, and Oscar Allen Guinn IV
Translated by Sanjana Nair and Nicole Callihan.
Curated by Leo Kuelbs.
Read the translated stories here!
Watch the official show teaser!
Artist Statements
Jim Ellis - Water Spirits: (universal solvent)
Without reflection there is no self.
Electric-waterbags gazing into their own eyes via the reflective atmospheric border between the universal solvent and the thinner air.
Pre-looking-glass, pre-metal-mirror, prehuman making the recursive connection of seeing ones iterated-self reflected in water. Overlapping consciousness perceptible in slices of interference patterns.
Accumulated dreams, warnings, potential pathways, and denied truths bubbling up as archetypes. Human-centric mysteriously generated musings for public entertainment and rule of law.
Semi-fictitious magically enhanced lands where nature, omnipotent gods, and the universe itself are personified with all the faults, limitations, and aspirations of their long deceased authors.
Born from fluid, next to ancestral waters, I say this:
Water does not trick and enslave. Water provides life. I merge myself willing, continuously, in its many depths. I love it.
Juliane Pieper & Sea of Daisies - Greed and Generosity
I picked “Three Giants and the Golden Apples” because water giants are my favorite animals.
I also liked the idea, that three water giants in fur hats make the mother and her daughters finally happy, not an old white man. I am joking. Maybe not.
Moreover, I was intrigued that in this story and in fairytales in general, the right option is not a sad, dull existence, but a phantastic life; the term “phantastic” means unrealistic and extravagantly fanciful. Who wouldn’t like this. I do.
Jonathan Phelps - The Pond Aquarius
The Pond Aquarius is an exploration of the unlimited potential of the unconscious mind, told in allegory through the fairytale of the same name. Here we follow three women into the willful acceptance of their universal divinity, facing fears in order to fully embrace connection to source & overcoming imbalance. This sacred communion has much to show us, its powerful waters forbidden for far to long.
Vadim Schaeffler & Alex Hamadey – You & Me
The Bavarian fairy tale “Fox and Rabbit” is reinterpreted in the video “You & ME”.
It's a short story about friendship, treason, revenge and regret.
Julia Obst & Mark Fernyhough – Aquaria
My video “Aquaria’’ is based on the fairy tale “The Pond Aquarius’’. I’ve chosen this fairy tale in particular because of it’s misogynist elements. Women are portrayed as creatures that trick men with their beauty and therefore deserve to be punished. The story has similarities to a witch hunt. I questioned myself how can I transform this fairy tale as a female director? I picked up elements from the original fairy tale and created a new story with a female protagonist. She’s on a journey to connect with her roots and ultimately finds out who she is. I think it’s a story about personal growth. Also I’m happy to mention that my team on set was 100% female.
Thomas D. Rotenberg & Josh Graham – They are the Plague
when reading the golden scale, I was struck by the class and power struggle dynamics, two elements which are more relevant today than ever before. in examining these dynamics, I chose to focalize the story through the captive, restrained deity and explore her inner monologue as she discovers the truth behind her captivity and the destructive force guiding those holding power over her. as with all revolutions, she arrives at the inevitable realization that the rhetoric and environment used to control her are not for her benefit, but the benefit of those seeking to stay in power. she uses her own strength to rise up and topple this regime, hoping to affect change as she leaves her prison behind and returns to the real world.
Mighty Kongbot - Water Women
The Water Women tale is taken into a sci-fi scenario. The protagonist is alienated into her journey, from the deep dark isolation towards the light and back deep down the well, the existential journey of a woman from daugther to wife and motherhood. Under the vigilant look of the Water Women that have influenced her life.
The video was made by building a 3D scene applying 3D .obj databending. Once the video was rendered in Cinema 4D, the video track was interpreted as raw data where the video image data stream edited as sound. The glitched video track was then edited compositing with 3D glitched objects rendered 2D and finalized in post-production.