in the past; it is easy to read which period we are dealing with in the photographs. I tend to come across the overall view in older photographs. On the other hand, they show the moment in which the theatrical performance breaks through the status of representation and coincides with the here and now of the viewer. I wanted to use theatre fires as a backdrop. The actual drama is taking place in front of the backdrop, that is to say in the exhibition space where the viewer is both protagonist and audience at the same time; it is not contained within the backdrop itself. KR: You often build models made from cardboard with photocopies and photos pasted on to them, and then you take photographs of them. This gives rise to a shift in perspective. You also erect settings like this for your films, such as »Filmriss« (2006) for example, in which several models of theatre fires are placed on a stage and ultimately what you see is the burning of the film material used to film this miniature stage. AL: The actual event of a film tearing is similar to a theatre fire. What happens in the cinema when the film tears? The members of the audience experience the destruction of the film on the screen and become aware of themselves in the
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darkened auditorium. They turn to look towards the projection room, towards the projector. A new sense of space emerges. The film performance can be thought of as an inverted perspective drawing. The projector functions as the vanishing point and the screen as the image plane. Extrapolate this idea further, then the viewer is caught in the image and the tear in the film not only liberates the actors on the screen, but also the viewer. »Filmriss« is a film about just that, a tear in the film. It is the document of an unrepeatable process, namely a self-destructing film performance. KR: We are witnesses to a fire, to destruction … AL: Destruction or liberation? In order to reach a new condition, first of all the old one has to melt away, disintegrate. Whether this experience of transition is perceived metaphysically or not, it nevertheless crops up metaphorically in very different ways. Be it divine illumination, ecstasy, existential experience during wartime, or a lacerated screen. KR: The viewer becomes a witness to an ending and a beginning. At the same time, you make the visitor walk a bit, i.e. you arrange your installation in such a way that you walk around it because you project the films onto the backs of display boards, which are