The Courser

Lisa Truttmann

Lisa Truttmann

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Films

The Courser

Experimental short, 2018

Experimental short, 2018

DCP, AT/CN, 12:07 min.
Filmed in Shanghai, China, 2015



Close-ups and wide shots of stone structures. Stasis, stillness, frozen time. From a distance, the sounds of hooves, snorting, and neighing emerge and begin to overlay the image. As the camera pulls further back and the sound intensifies, a series of horse sculptures ­becomes visible within the abstract fragments­—seemingly set into motion by the swelling audio and ­accelerating montage. A third movement eventually situates the sculptures within a network of highway feeder roads and residential complexes in Shanghai. Referencing Eadweard Muybridge’s motion studies, the work reflects on the relationship between stillness and movement in urban architecture: stasis is relative, movement never absolute. Amidst the promise of mobility symbolized by the highway, it is the fixed motion study—activated through the camera—that gains a sense of dynamism, suggesting the possibility of escape.

German synopsis
Nah- und Großaufnahmen von Steinstrukturen. Stasis, Stillstand, gefrorene Zeit. Aus der Ferne erklingen Trabgeräusche, Schnauben, Wiehern und legen sich über das Bild. Die zunehmende Distanz der Kamera und die sich steigernde Präsenz des Tons lassen in den abstrakten Fragmenten eine Reihe von Pferdeskulpturen sichtbar werden, die im Brausen des Tons und in der Akzeleration der Montage in Bewegung zu geraten scheinen. Eine dritte Bewegung verortet schließlich die Skulpturen inmitten einer Struktur aus Autobahnzubringern und Wohnkomplexen in Shanghai. Die Referenz auf die Bewegungsstudien Eadweard Muybridges ist Ausgangspunkt einer Reflexion über das Verhältnis von Stillstand und Bewegung in Stadtarchitekturen: Stasis ist relativ, Bewegung nichts Absolutes. Inmitten der Mobilität versprechenden Autobahn ist es die fixierte Bewegungsstudie, die mittels der Kamera an Dynamik gewinnt und darin einen Ausbruch suggeriert.

Alejandro Bachmann, Diagonale 2019
(originally written in German, translated with AI)


Video
Synopsis
Stills
Excerpts
Screenings
Credits
Excerpts
Screenings
Solo/Duo programs
2024
Image Within Another. Short films by Lisa Truttmann, UnionDocs, New York City, US
2024
Nothing Is Incidental. Short films by Lisa Truttmann, Mothlight Microcinema, Play House Labs, Detroit, US
2024
Birds, Clocks and Toolboxes. Short films by Lisa Truttmann, UVM Union Cinema Milwaukee, US
2024
Image Within Another. Lisa Truttmann in Person, Pix Film Gallery, Toronto, CA
2024
Image Holding Another. VISIONS: Lisa Truttmann, La Lumière Collective, Visions Montréal, CA
2024
FOCUS ON: Lisa Truttmann, Breitenseer Lichtspiele, Vienna, AT
2021
Short films by Lisa Truttmann, Le Studio Film und Bühne, Vienna, AT
2019
Films by Viktoria Schmid and Lisa Truttmann, Now Instant Image Hall, Los Angeles, US
2018
Blickle Archive Series #27: Lisa Truttmann, Belvedere 21, Vienna, AT
2018
Films by Marian McMahon Akimbo award winners 2016/17, Film Farm, Mount Forest, CA
(work in progress preview)
Programs
2024
Karl Sierek: Wege. Spuren und Bahnen der Bewegung im Kino, Austrian Filmmuseum, Vienna, AT
2020
Streaming Spectres, GPC Online Screen, AT/Online
2018
Blickle Archive Series #30: Videokunstgeschichten, Belvedere 21, Vienna, AT
Festivals
2019
Crossing Europe Filmfestival, Linz, AT
2019
Athens International Film and Video Festival, Ohio, US
2019
32nd Stuttgarter Filmwinter, Festival for Expanded Media, Stuttgart, DE
Credits
Location
Yan’an Elevated Road & Inner Ring Elevated Road
Shanghai, China
Sculpture
Power of Hong Qiao
The Gallop of the Courser
Sound mix
Andreas Pils
Thanks to
The workers of Hong Qiao
Supported by
BKA studio residency program