HfG Karlsruhe Jahresbericht Staatliche Hochschule für Gestaltung ...

MK MA
144 Herwig Hoffmann
145
Transdisziplinäres Projekt / Transdisciplinary Project
Gastprofessor / Visiting Prof. Armin Linke MK MA
In January 2008, a small HfG production team of students and professors sponsored by the
Goethe Institute in Rome travelled to Rome in order to film the flocks of birds above the city
on 16mm film material from the same locations used by the University of Rome’s field investigation
for an EU project two years earlier.
While the scientific work is based on an observational method, that recalls artistic image production,
the artistic production uses the research results to transfer the image aesthetics of
the scientific investigation into a narrative structure on film. The outcome of the project is a
film that incorporates both the specific sites of observation as well as the city itself into its
narrative structure.
Not only did the Goethe Institute in Rome provide financial support as co-producer, but this
project was also made possible by the ARRI camera technology provided by the German TVchannel
SWR Baden-Baden, and the substantial discounts on film material granted by the Kodak
company. The team was consequently able to use “Kodak Vision 3” film material which
allowed the production of high quality footage during the difficult light situation at dusk.
FLOCKING was edited uncompressed in HD. To deal with data rates of over 200MB/s, an
“IFX Piranha Cinema” editing system was used.
FLOCKING has been shown so far at the exhibitions “Notation: Kalkül & Form in den Künsten”
[Notation: Calculation & Form in the Arts] at the Academy of the Arts, Berlin, in 2008;
at the ZKM [Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe] in 2009 (curated by Hubertus von Amelunxen
and Peter Weibel); as part of the exhibition “Sustainable Dystopias” at the Italian Pavilion
in the 11th Architecture Biennale in Venice; the11th International Istanbul Biennale as part
of the project, “Decolonizing Architecture;” and at the Galleria Base in Florence. Currently, a
longer version of the film is being edited in order to be shown at the Festival Romaeuropa accompanied
by live musicians in November 2009.