Fassbinder – NOW

“Fassbinder – NOW” illustrated not only the film-maker's working methods, but also the coherence of his work in the cinema and its influence on the art being produced today. The exhibition thus took in a dual perspective: both historical and contemporary. It traced the aesthetic, political and media contexts that distanced our present from Fassbinder's time while simultaneously linked to it.

The presentation began with a juxtaposition: headlines and texts reflected the original public reception of Fassbinder’s persona and his work. Fassbinder explained his understanding of film in excerpts from television interviews that may be seen on nine monitors – in the process implicitly clarifying the methods with which he stage-managed his own public image.

In the first part of the exhibition a different aspect of Fassbinder was juxtaposed with the image intended for public consumption: original documents and personal effects from his estate provided visitors with detailed insight into the director's projects and the environment in which he lived. Notes, letters, calculations, manuscripts, screenplays and shooting schedules traced Fassbinder's work methods as well as his personal attitude and illuminated his strategic and structural approach. A slideshow presented the director highly concentrated at work with his team. Visitors could leaf through digitised documents, such as complete screenplay manuscripts, at media stations, or further explored his professional archive by listening to his recorded notes for his masterpiece “Berlin Alexanderplatz” (1979/80). Additional attention was paid to Fassbinder’s work with the costume designer Barbara Baum. Alongside her costumes, such as the spectacular silver lamé dress worn by Hanna Schygulla in “Lili Marleen” (1980) and the sailors’ uniforms from “Querelle” (1982), sketches from her personal collection were also shown.

The second part of the exhibition illustrated the recurring themes and aesthetic resources in Fassbinder’s films, juxtaposed with the works of contemporary artists that refer to them either directly or indirectly. Thus, on a free-floating screen one may see film clips showing Fassbinder’s 360-degree tracking shots, including the famous scene from “Martha” (1973). This was followed by Runa Islam’s video installation “Tuin” (1998), for which this tracking shot served as a point of reference.

Excerpts from Fassbinder’s films, shown as a compilation on three large screens, introduced the most important themes in his œuvre and also highlighted the stylistic resources, such as lighting, framing and direction of gaze, that characterised his films.

Jeroen de Rijke / Willem de Rooij, Tom Geens, Maryam Jafri and Ming Wong as well as the Canadian photographer Jeff Wall employed aesthetic strategies, themes and motifs from Fassbinder’s films in their works. These were linked to the artists’ own attitudes. Their works facilitated a new way of looking at Fassbinder’s work; they showed which aspects were of particular relevance today and demonstrated, on a higher level, how the cinema affects contemporary media. The video works, conversely, gave an impetus for the reception of Fassbinder in the present.

The project was a cooperation with the Rainer Werner Fassbinder Foundation, Berlin, and was upported by the Capital Cultural Fund.