Years of Construction

Forum 2019

The film begins with the sound of water. A building site on the other side of the Rhine: Block 9 of Mannheim Power Station. The opening was planned for 2013.
Years of Construction follows the demolition and reconstruction of part of the Kunsthalle Mannheim between 2013 and 2018. Starting from the fountains in the Friedrichsplatz opposite, Emigholz’s camera approaches the building complex. A passage leads from the imposing Jugendstil edifice to the 1983 extension by Hans Mitzlaff; the sculptures it was built for seem to be trying to find their place in a space not big enough for them. The architecture isn’t suitable for paintings: it casts light and shadow according to its own whims. In between, Emigholz shows streets that cross at right angles, bridges and overpasses, the city of Mannheim. References to the vision of architects Gerkan, Marg and Partners: after the demolition and construction phase, a complex of cubes, passages and terraces appears and forms an interior. A stone and a clock swing through the air: “The Moving Emptiness of the Moment” is the name of the installation. Metal meshing holds the new Kunsthalle – a mighty cube when seen from the outside – firmly in its grip.

by Heinz Emigholz Germany 2019 Without dialogue 93’ Colour World premiere | Documentary form

Crew

Written and Directed by	Heinz Emigholz
Cinematography	Till Beckmann, Heinz Emigholz
Editing	Till Beckmann, Heinz Emigholz
Sound Design	Christian Obermeier, Jochen Jezussek
Sound	Till Beckmann
Producers	Heinz Emigholz Heinz Emigholz Filmproduktion, Ulrike Lorenz Kunsthalle Mannheim

Produced by

Heinz Emigholz Filmproduktion

http://www.pym.de http://www.pym.de

Kunsthalle Mannheim

Heinz Emigholz

Born in Achim, near Bremen, Germany in 1948. He has worked as a filmmaker, artist, writer, cinematographer, producer and journalist in Germany and the USA since 1973. In 1974, he began an encyclopedic series of drawings, “Die Basis des Make-Up”, which was the subject of a major exhibition in the Hamburger Bahnhof gallery in Berlin in 2007/08. In 1984, he embarked on the “Photography and Beyond” film series. From 1993 to 2013, he was professor of experimental filmmaking at the Berlin University of the Arts where he also co-founded the Institute for Time-Based Media and the art and media course. He has been a member of the Academy of Arts in Berlin since 2013.

Filmography (selection)

1973 Schenec-Tady I; Short film · Schenec-Tady I; 27 min., Forum 1975 · Schenec-Tady II; Short film 1974 Arrowplane; 24 min., Forum 1974 · Arrowplane; Short film · Tide; Short film · Tide; 33 min., Forum 1976 1975 Schenec-Tady III; Short film 1976 Hotel; 27 min., Forum 1976 · Hotel; Short film 1977 Demon – Die Übersetzung von Stéphane Mallarmés Le Demon de l’Analogie (Demon - The Translation of Stéphane Mallarmé´`s The Demon of Analogy); Short film 1981 Normalsatz · Normalsatz; 105 min., Forum 1982 1983 The Basis of Make-Up I (Photographie und jenseits – Teil 1); Short film 1985 Die Basis des Make-Up (The Basis of Make-Up) · Die Basis des Make-Up; 85 min. 1987 Die Wiese der Sachen (The Meadow of Things); 87 min., Panorama 1988, Forum Expanded 2016 · Die Wiese der Sachen (The Meadow of Things) 1991 Der Zynische Körper (The Holy Bunch) 1999 Sullivans Banken (Photographie und jenseits – Teil 2) (Sullivan's Banks); Short film · Maillarts Brücken (Photographie und jenseits – Teil 3) (Maillart's Bridges); Short film · Maillarts Brücken (Photographie und jenseits – Teil 3) (Maillart's Bridges); 24 min., Forum 2001 2000 The Basis of Make-Up II (Photographie und jenseits – Teil 4); Short film 2003 Goff in der Wüste (Goff in the Desert) · Goff in der Wüste (Photographie und jenseits – Teil 7) (Goff in the Desert); 110 min., Forum 2003 2004 The Basis of Make-Up III (Photographie und jenseits – Teil 9); Short film 2005 D’Annunzios Höhle (D'Annunzio's Cave) · D’Annunzios Höhle (Photographie und jenseits – Teil 8) (D'Annunzio's Cave); 60 min., Forum 2005 2007 Schindlers Häuser (Schindler's Houses) 2008 Loos ornamental (Photographie und jenseits – Teil 13); 72 min., Forum 2008 · Loos ornamental · Ornament und Verbrechen von Adolf Loos (Ornament and Crime by Adolf Loos); co-directed by Benjamin Krieg 2009 Sense of Architecture 2011 Eine Serie von Gedanken (A Series of Thoughts) 2012 Parabeton – Pier Luigi Nervi und römischer Beton (Parabeton – Pier Luigi Nervi and Roman Concrete ); 100 min., Forum 2012 · Parabeton – Pier Luigi Nervi und römischer Beton (Parabeton - Pier Luigi Nervi an Roman Concrete) · Auguste Perret in Frankreich und Algerien (Auguste Perret in France and Algeria) · Perret in Frankreich and Algerien (Perret in France and Algeria); 110 min. 2014 The Airstrip · The Airstrip – Aufbruch der Moderne, Teil III (The Airstrip – Decampment of Modernism, Part III); 108 min., Forum 2014 2015 Le Corbusier [IIIII] Asger Jorn [Relief]; Short film · Le Corbusier [IIIII] Asger Jorn [Relief]; 29 min., Forum Expanded 2016 2017 2+2=22 [The Alphabet] · 2+2=22 [The Alphabet]; 88 min., Forum 2017 · Bickels [Socialism] · Bickels [Socialism]; 92 min., Forum 2017 · Streetscapes [Dialogue] · Streetscapes [Dialogue]; 132 min., Forum 2017 · Dieste [Uruguay] · Dieste [Uruguay]; 95 min., Forum 2017 2018 Two Basilicas; Short film · Two Basilicas; 36 min., Forum Expanded 2018 2019 Years of Construction 2020 Die letzte Stadt (The Last City)

Bio- & filmography as of Berlinale 2020