Robert Walser Video, 1995

PAL, sound, colour


Video occupies a particular place in the work of Thomas Hirschhorn, complementing his use of 'lay-outs', the term he employs to designate his installations and the representation systems he has created. His videos take on meaning in relation to his use of drawing or sculpture, as with 50/50 à Belleville (50/50 in Belleville, 1992), Les monsters (Monsters, 1993) or the 1995 series composed of Robert Walser Video, Antifaschistiche Aktion, I Will Win and Thank You . These four videos can be seen as a series in terms of construction and formal elements. They are all filmed with static shots in Hirschhorn's studio. The frame is conceived like that of a painting. The duration is determined by the length of a piece of rock music, somewhat like a video clip. The sound quality is poor; it has not been added during the editing but recorded live in the studio. Hirschhorn always privileges meaning over a formal quality which might embellish the reading of his works: just as he uses materials considered non noble by traditional art, he transmits the music on low-quality equipment. The artist uses his collages and drawings in the background and shows himself in protest situations: raised fist, banner, bare chested like a guerrilla. Each video may thus be read as a performance. In Robert Walser Video, Hirschhorn is seated in front of a white sheet on which the title of the tape is written alongside the portrait of a man. His collages appear on the left, and a multicolour striped scarf is suspended over everything. Pop rock music is broadcast on a cassette player; the artist looks straight at the camera while his head moves to the rhythm of the music. He lets the song play to the end and concludes the video by getting up to turn off the camera. Robert Walser was a Swiss writer who was born in 1878 and died on Christmas Day 1956. He embodies the resistance to authority and the exercise of talent in spite of constraints. Hirschhorn has paid tribute to him in several works, including the installation Skulptur Sortier Station (Sortier Station Sculpture, 1997) and L'autel Robert Walser (Robert Walser Altar, 1999) at the University of Zurich.

Laetitia Rouiller

Translation Miriam Rosen