Gertrud & Tiederich

Special opportunities produce films. In the case of Gertrud & Tiederich, it all started with a solicitation made by the art patrons and collectors Gertraud & Dieter Bogner: Might Josef Dabernig be interested in creating a site-specific work for their Buchberg castle art space near Gars am Kamp in Lower Austria? Upon visiting, an ideal motif was instantly found, one that presented a truly "Dabernigian" space – the sacristy of the fortress chapel containing a megalith bearing the names from which the film borrows its title. The chamber is still used today to house objects used for church services, but by and large, the space feels a touch lost and dismal. Somewhat fleeting, spatially exploratory perspectives captured by a handheld camera alternate with an austerely contemplative recording of the place and its objects. Subjects often appear in fragments and are hauntingly framed, as when a veiled gonfalon seems to assume the form of a ghost. Dabernig himself appears on screen three times, reading the titles of artworks located in other rooms of the castle off a piece of paper. He does not include the names of their creators, and the list sounds like a litany or team line-up, underscored by a somewhat monotonous organ music. The entire art collection gathers in spirit in this astonishingly ordinary space, assuming the form of a mischievous audiovisual Vanitas. (Olaf Möller)

Translation: Eve Heller


Iron door, bell rope, arches, traces of wall exploration, altarpiece and the sparse furniture of a castle´s sacristy. In between the filmmaker, quasi praying the rosary of the castles own art collection. He reads the titles and technical data for the artworks, accompanied by austere organ sounds. Space and scenery counteract the conventions of art business and shift the signifiers of such an anti-museum towards strange meaning. (production note)

Orig. Title
Gertrud & Tiederich
Year
2018
Country
Austria
Duration
10 min
Director
Josef Dabernig
Category
Experimental
Orig. Language
German
Subtitles
English
Downloads
Credits
Director
Josef Dabernig
Script
Josef Dabernig
Cinematography
Christian Giesser
Music
Christoph Herndler
Editing
Josef Dabernig
Sound Design
Michael Palm
Voice
Josef Dabernig
Production
Josef Dabernig
Co-Producer
Gertraud Bogner, Dieter Bogner
Supported by
Kunstraum Buchberg
Available Formats
DCP 2K flat (Distribution Copy)
Aspect Ratio
4:3
Sound Format
5.1 surround
Frame Rate
25 fps
Color Format
b/w
Digital File (prores, h264)
Festivals (Selection)
2018
Viennale - Vienna Int. Film Festival
Villach, Udine, Ljubljana - K3 Short Film Festival
2019
Graz - Diagonale, Festival des österreichischen Films