Artist and filmmaker Guillermo Tellechea has revived the Cinématon project, an archive of one-shot film portraits in Super 8 format developed by Gérard Courant in the late 1970s. An individual is filmed in a single take lasting 200 seconds (the length of a Super 8mm magazine) and is given the opportunity to reveal ‘essential truths of their personality’ (Courant: 1989).
Initiated at the first biennial in 2013 and continuing since, 12 Tyrolean artists have so far been invited to give insight into their ‘true self’: Paul Albert Leitner, Dieter Henke & Marta Schreieck, Annja Krautgasser, Martin Philadelphy, Daniel Pöhacker, Eva Schlegel, Esther Stocker, Philipp Quehenberger (2013); as well as Lissie Rettenwander, Klaus Händl and Heidrun Sandbichler (2016). This year, the archive of Tyrolean artists will be expanded to include three new Cinématons:
Multimedia artist Romana Fiechtner follows a conceptual approach when exploring urban spaces, modes of communication, and isolation. She uses the span of her Cinématon to load film into her camera before, finally, snapping a shot.
Artist and graphic designer Jürgen Bauer addresses questions that concern shifts in viewing habits. He’s also interested in the perception of space and time, concepts he emphasizes in his Cinématon as he switches from black-and-white to colour.
Meanwhile, in the contribution from Peter Blaas, time seems to stand still. For several years the painter and sketch artist has recorded his impressions in small sketchbooks. His Cinématon shows him working at his kitchen table in the Old Town of Innsbruck.
Regarding the Cinématons, Tellechea captured the following thoughts in what he calls ‘Neunernotizen’ (notes of nines):
Romana Fiechtner
A starship
The densest fog of days past lifted
Above, at Ambras Castle, tiny snowflakes
The sun goes down, the camera is stuck
Souvenir shop, witty co-workers, heater, running camera, it will be close
To load the roll of film takes three minutes, the timing is perfect, click and done
Push +1
And a ‘Beam me up, Scotty’ castle café
The weather is changing – man-made, that’s for sure, and faster than expected
Jürgen Bauer
Endless construction contemplation, one-and-a-half hours of total darkness, Done is the black-and-white-colour film (B/W/CF)
Lots of paper strips, red, black, white, and transparencies
The protagonist is visible and remains graphic
Lettering is key
Green camera mode, measuring light, testing, pondering, marking
Places create connections and change the way we work
Exposed – says the end of the B/W/CF – Eureka!
Just in case, a second film rolls in colour
Avoid comparisons with the greats, 84 was a joke, art opens up perspectives
Peter Blaas
An old staircase indeed
Each step tells its own history through individual creaking sounds
The ladder leading to the attic conjures a laugh
Through the window, the Old Town and the monster in the yard below
Scissors, sign, paper
An everyday mantra: sketching concepts on the kitchen table
Eneloop, Duracell, the heat is on – the camera rolls
Unbelievably good schnapps
Coffee houses used to be dull and dark, meant for making out during winter, they kept students warm
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