Xavier Stentz - Witness(es)

RISE berlin is pleased to present Witness(es) a new installation by Xavier Stentz opening on Friday the 4th of May 2012 at 18:00

Power of Submission
Over a one-year period the artist asked 144 participants to photograph his naked body in their own private space. The participants could direct the artist but were only given one shot using a Polaroid camera. The participant then signed the Polaroid.



What Weather
Using the proprietary voice-over-Internet Protocol service Skype Stentz conducted a series of interviews with various participants in different countries around the world. The question asked was “What is the weather where you are_” Using only weather metaphors the participants are able to express details of a political, social and economic nature in their own language.



Eyewitness
Five women from the same family were asked to give their own personal physical description of the Prophet Mohamed. Eyewitness takes the form of a back projected dvd onto a single sheet of paper suspended. The viewer sees each women’s description as black text only. The lack of a pictorial image encourages the viewer join the women in their imagination and to picture the person they are describing.



24 Reenactment
This piece takes the form of a photocopied screenplay and an actualized reenactment of a scene from the popular TV series 24. Four actors follow the screenplay 3 in front of the camera and one as the camera operator. Each actor is colour coded (blue, green, red and yellow). The scene is played out 24 times with each actor rotating his or her role within the scene regardless of the gender of the character.



Alternate Ending
Based on a famous internet rumor, alternate ending takes the form of a modified paused VHS copy of Rambo III. The movie ends with two quotes: "This film is dedicated to the gallant people of Afghanistan." and "I am like a bullet, filled with lead and made to kill".

Legend has it that the original pre-9/11 ending of the film had the quote

“This film is dedicated to the brave Mujahideen fighters of Afghanistan".


Stentz lives and works in Berlin and Lyon.

The exhibition runs from 04. May -26. May 2012.

Opening times: Thursday to Saturday 14.00 - 19.00 h or by appointment

RISE berlin is an artist-run project space in Neukölln, Berlin.

RISE berlin, Hertzbergstrasse 27, Neukölln, 12055 Berlin, Germany

Auszug aus der Beschreibung:

"RISE berlin is pleased to present Witness(es) a new installation by Xavier Stentz opening on Friday the 4th of May 2012 at 18:00

Power of Submission
....."