Shizen?Natural
Christin Bolewski (DE)
video, 2015/2016, 7:16
“Shizen” is the Japanese word for “nature” and the video reflects our relationship to nature by transposing the Makimono – the traditional Japanese horizontal hand scroll – into a contemporary manner. Throughout the year seasonal motifs are changed – accordingly: spring, summer, autumn and winter progress as well as the destruction of our environment.
There is a global question and challenge arising for mankind: to coexist in harmony or to control, master and exploit nature?
The ambient “video scroll” presents a poem of the famous Japanese poet “Yamabe no Akahito” as a reflection on the conflicting relationship struggling between tradition and technological and cultural progress.
The traditional Eastern concept of multi-perspective and the endless handscroll are explored through the digital filmmaking, video compositing, virtual camera, depths and particle systems – all mixed with the video footage recorded live.
Christin Bolewski (DE), born 1966, undergraduate studies in film, video and photography, postgraduate studies at Academy of Media Arts Cologne Germany. Her work is a critical investigation of the potential of digital media to expand the aesthetic possibilities of audiovisual/film art. It includes video installation, genre mix, alternation and remediation of traditional art concepts/film structures, nonlinear storytelling, combination of still/moving image, video/photography.
She’s been awarded with the Polish Public TV Channel 2 special prize New Media Art Biennale WRO 97; UNESCO Webprize 1998, Prix de la Création Vidéo: Mention Spéciale Videoformes Clermont-Ferrand 2002, Honorable Mention at Int. Digital Art Exhibition Orilla#2006; Museo de Arte Contemporaneo Argentina; Transitio Mx 03 Centro National de las Artes Mexico; Monographic Show of Media Art 2012 Colombia; Finalist of Contemporary EcoArt Contest Italy 2010 etc.