In 2016, we transferred the means of expression which we had elaborated during our first PATHS project to the field of historical investigation. PATHS – Renewal. The subject of research was the protestant Reformation in Württemberg which we intended to describe and encode as a phenomenon of cultural and religious history.
For this project, we visited places that are related to the historical figure of Duke Christoph who in the 16th century introduced the Reformation in Württemberg. While doing so, we marked paths and put down symbols that represented his life and works and his ongoing legacy.
We recorded each of those performative explorations for documentation with actioncams in time lapse mode. These recordings are an integral part of our video installation
Correspondingly, we made palpable the process of renewal (which is inherent to the term “Reformation”) through the creation of a painting. This was done by depicting representative motifs from the Duke-Christoph-exhibition at the Württemberg State Museum in Stuttgart and by overpainting each single motif with another one. During this continuous process, a great number of layers added up, which by their semi-transparency preserved the former conditions of the painting to make the past within the present perceivable.
As a link to our walking explorations, we frequently let appear the symbols that we before had created with the red fabric strips within the layers of the painting, eventually leading it to completion by painting the symbol for “eternity” which had also previously appeared during the video recording in the form of a choreographic figure.
You can watch longer versions of the videos on our Youtube channel.
We exhibited a part of this Project in a group – exhibition WKV – Stuttgart