Dave McKenzie
Pants full of hope, pockets full of adventure,
or... don’t call me Cheesuz
January 31 – April 9, 2015

Ausstellung: 31. Januar – 9. April 2015
Eröffnung: Samstag, 31. Januar, 16–19 Uhr

our dialogue is also an image

Dave McKenzie zeigte auf der letzten Whitney Biennale in New York zwei seiner Filme Camera und The Beautiful One has Come. In seiner zweiten Einzelausstellung in der Galerie haben wir dies zum Anlaß genommen, sein filmisches Werk vorzustellen, das neben den Aktionen und Performances, den Skulpturen, Installationen und seinen Textarbeiten ein wesentlicher Teil seiner Arbeit ist.

McKenzies Ausgangspunkt ist immer ein persönlich erlebtes Unbehagen, eine Unstimmigkeit in dem, was er beobachtet. Oft ist es eine Selbstbefragung – wie verhält er sich selbst im Wald der gesellschaftlichen Regeln.
Er ist distanzierter, skeptischer Beobachter und benutzt in seinen Filmen die Kamera als Werkzeug um Distanz herzustellen und zu halten. Der Film Camera (2012) entstand während einer Begegnung mit Henry Kissinger, dem ehemaligen Außenminister der USA, in der American Academy in Berlin, in der McKenzie Stipendiat war. Er war zu einem Empfang mit Henry Kissinger eingeladen, dessen politische Überzeugungen McKenzie nicht teilt.
Die gesellschaftliche Konvention solcher Empfänge reizte ihn, sein eigenes Unbehagen zu einem Filmkonzept zu machen. Er schreibt: But since Kissinger is already an image to me I get to work, I reach for my camera the camera being the tool that allows distance and creates a wall of operator and subject, documentarian and document, me and you. I reach for a camera and a wall is created and I never have to answer the question, ’Do you shake his hand or don’t you?’

In The Beautiful One has Come (2012) setzt McKenzie zwei Welten gegeneinander. Im ersten Teil des Films zeigt er Museumsbesucher bei der Bewunderung der Büste von Nofretete im Neuen Museum in Berlin, im zweiten Teil filmt er die Räume einer Hausruine. Der Blick aus den Fenstern zeigt das im Zerfall befindliche Areal. Es gibt keine Statements im Film, nur die Bilder sprechen davon, worüber McKenzie nachdenkt – welche Dinge werden bewahrt und welche dem Verfall überlassen: I am thinking about the failure to preserve some things and not other things.

2014 erhielt Dave McKenzie den Rome Prize der American Academy, der mit einem begehrten Stipendium in Rom verbunden ist. Dort entstand McKenzies neuester Film, der an einen anderen Aspekt seines Filmwerks anknüpft.
Es geht dabei um computergenerierte, animierte Bilder, eine Technik, die er schon in Present Tense (2010) verwendet hat, einem Film, der die US-amerikanische Kunstwelt und McKenzies eigene Position darin zum Thema hat. Der neue Film heißt Toe Drips into the Sun (2015) und beginnt mit einem kupferfarbenen, sich drehenden Objekt, das sich mit jeder Drehung leicht verändert. Das Objekt wird von einer Textzeile begleitet, in der McKenzie über das Erzählen von Träumen spricht: the most boring of exercises to share a dream with someone else. the short version of this dream sounds like you pissing in my mouth like me smashing in your face like you obliterating my version. our dialogue is also an image.

When Smoke Butters Bread (2015) ist der Titel der Zeitung, die im Laufe unsere Ausstellung in drei Ausgaben erscheinen wird. Im Gegensatz zur event-getriebenen Form der Tageszeitung funktioniert Smoke Butters Bread anders. Das Magazin erscheint verzögert und bietet verschiedene, sich verändernde Blicke auf die ausgestellten Werke.


Exhibition: January 31 – April 9, 2015
Opening: Saturday, January 31, 4–7 pm

our dialogue is also an image

During the last Whitney Biennial in New York, Dave McKenzie showed two of his films, Camera and The Beautiful
One has Come
. In his second solo-show in the gallery we take this as an opportunity to present his film work. McKenzie’s films are an essential part of his oeuvre, besides the actions and performances, the sculptures, installations and text works.

McKenzie’s starting point is always a personally experienced discrepancy with what he observes. It often is a self-inquiry: how does he himself behave in the tangle of social norms? He is a distanced and sceptical observer and in his films he often uses the camera as a tool to create and maintain distance. The film Camera (2012) resulted from an encounter with the former Secretary of State of the United States, Henry Kissinger, in the American Academy in Berlin, in which McKenzie was a scholar at this time. McKenzie was invited to a reception along with Henry Kissinger, whose political opinion he doesn’t share at all. The social conventions of such receptions tempted him to bring his own discomfort into a concept for a film. He writes:But since Kissinger is already an image to me I get to work, I reach for my camera the camera being the tool that allows distance and creates a wall of operator and subject, documentarian and document, me and you. I reach for a camera and a wall is created and I never have to answer the question, ’Do you shake his hand or don’t you?’

In The Beautiful One has Come (2012) McKenzie confronts two worlds. In the first part of the film he shows museum visitors in admiration of the Nefertiti Bust in the Neues Museum in Berlin, in the second part he strolls through the rooms of a ruined house. The look out of the windows shows the whole territory in decay. The film doesn’t make any statements, only the images tell what McKenzie reflects about – which things are preserved and which left to decay: I am thinking about the failure to preserve some things and not other things.

In 2014 Dave McKenzie received the Rome Prize of the American Academy, which is combined with a coveted grant in Rome. In Rome he developed his new film, which takes up another aspect of his film work. It deals with computer-generated, animated images, a technique he had already used in Present Tense (2010), a film that approaches the US-American art world and McKenzies own position in it. The new film is called Toe Drips into the Sun (2015) and begins with a copper-colored, turning object which slightly changes with every turn. The object goes along with a text, in which McKenzie talks about the narrative of dreams: the most boring of exercises to share a dream with someone else. the short version of this dream sounds like you pissing in my mouth like me smashing in your face like you obliterating my version. our dialogue is also an image.

When Smoke Butters Bread (2015) is the title of a newspaper-project, that will be published in three issues during the exhibition. As a challenge to the idea of the daily and event driven newspaper, Smoke Butters Bread arrives late and serves, in its own way, to frame and reframe fixed or settled notions of the work on display.