Antje Majewski

Emergency Room, Galerie Olaf Stüber, Berlin / 2006

Credits
Idea and Interviews: Antje Majewski
Camera and Editing: Elmar Vestner

Thank you
the people that let me talk with them and gave me their news; Elmar Vestner; Bettina Schoeller

interview with Thierry Geoffroy about my project
Von: Thierry Geoffroy / Colonel <colonel [at] emergencyrooms.org>
Datum: 29. Oktober 2006 06:54:17 MEZ
An: Antje Majewski <antje [at] antjemajewski.de>
Betreff: Re:from Thierry

Thierry:
How did you come into the Emergency Room?

Antje:
Eleonore de Montesquiou told me about it.

Thierry:
What motivated you to come?

Antje:
I liked the project and I had an idea. I had wanted to do some artwork in Berlin, in the city for a long time, but couldn't decide what form it could take. The interviews were a first solution, it was very nice to actually come in contact with the people from Berlin.

Thierry:
How many interventions did you make?

Antje:
Three.

Thierry:
What did you exactly do?

Antje:
I contributed several short videos to the exhibition, in which I visit different areas in Berlin with a cameraman and ask random people on the street and in shops for their news of today. Answers range from "No idea" to long stories from the lifes of the persons willing to answer; very few actually tell some piece of news from media like radio, newspapers or TV. I tried to keep the conversation going, drifting away from the initial question. The small portraits of the people I encountered form a portrait of the quarter they live in; from the rich and bourgois Zehlendorf in which three people knew about a problem with an opera, to poor and multinational Wedding in which people were a lot more talkative about their personal lifes and problems. On the last day I happened to meet a person that works for a TV news channel, but it was his free day and even he didn't know any "official" news.

Thierry:
Are you happy about what you did?

Antje:
Yes, I'm very happy. I wanted to do more areas of Berlin but after the third day I suddenly felt very silly to ask my question and I felt I had enough material, very different people.

Thierry:
Did something come out of it?

Antje:
Well yes, three films that are sometimes quite funny and that show a lot about Berlin and the people that live here, how they react and the way they talk.

Thierry:
Sometimes the fact that people have no awareness does it surprise you?

Antje:
No, most people just live their private lifes and for me these lifes are what the social reality is like, so they are very interesting for me. I like people.

Thierry:
Does it scare you?

Antje:
No.

Thierry:
Why do you tell people in your street meeting that it is for an art project?

Antje:
Because people were more open to participate. My camera was quite big and scared some people, but if I said it wasn't for television but for art, people in general were feeling better. It also made clear that I ask my question because it is MY project, and I'm not paid by someone else to do it.

Thierry:
What is the most interesting answer or situation you got?

Antje:
I really enjoyed talking to the Vietnamese lady in her shop. We listen to the same radio station, Radio Multikulti, and I was happy to know that for her it is important that she can listen to the news in Vietnamese on Sundays. I also loved the Genetics professor from Russia that was so polite and eager to talk to us. He was the only one that immideately presented himself with his name.

Thierry:
Could YOU express an opinion about today through your videos?

Antje:
Yes, I think they show somehow what people really think about: my small daughter was in a bad mood all morning; I have to fix my teeth; my girlfriend is coming back from holiday today and I miss her; my wife is in hospital, she is old; my wife is in Poland to buy sausages for the shop... and so on. You could also feel that the more multicultural people in Wedding were a lot more personal and interesting than the people in Zehlendorf, who were more distanced and suspicious, and more boring. So I don't express an opinion that I already had, but now I have learned some things about the city in which I live since a long time.
One of the days happened to be the day celebrating the Reunification. I have come here right after that, and the city has changed very much. So my news of the day was that Berlin is now looking like this, with these people living here.

Thierry:
Could they (the people you approached) express an opinion about today ?

Antje:
Most people, as I said, are very closed in in their private lifes. I think this is normal, it has nearly always been like this. As I said before, I like people and I think it's nice if they think about their mother or girlfriend instead of revolutions etc. I think it would be ideal if people were happy enough to think very little about politics. On the other hand I was quite surprised that absolutely nobody had heard of any news apart from the weather and this one problem with an opera.

Thierry:
Do you normally work like that ?

Antje:
No, it was the first time. But in the year before I had done a photo book about a city in Poland, Bytom, for which I also went around and asked people if I could take their photo (Antje Majewski + Ingo Niermann, Skarbek. Lukas & Sternberg 2005). But since I don't speak Polish, I couldn't talk to them. I was thinking about doing the same thing in Berlin, but I really liked to talk with the people instead of just taking a silent photo. I think it's better to let them have a voice.

Thierry:
How is it to finish the dvd fast, is it powerful feeling or is it frustrating?

Antje:
It was really nice because my assistant Elmar Vestner is a great cameraman and we could in general take nearly all the material just the way he had filmed it. There was very little editing. Sometimes it's too long but I wanted to leave that for this rough version.

Thierry:
Are you going to rework this video material or will it remain like it was shown?

Antje:
I want to rework it, shorten it and make it into one film.

Thierry:
Did you get inspired by the others artists in the ER?

Antje:
No.

Thierry:
What piss you off the most in what is happening in 2006 in the world?

Antje:
I think it's incredible how many people die of AIDS, just because they don't have condoms. This could be changed with comparatively little money. These people really die for nothing at all. Inside Germany, I'm pissed off by the lie that things will change and people will have jobs again. I think it would be much better for Germany if the politicians would put the facts on the table and try to find very new solutions, not the ones of the traditional political agendas.

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