On the bottom of the laundrybag
Adele Razkövi’s short film converges on a common myth—the empty laundry bucket. Starting from the documentary, most likely autobiographical, and in any case philosophical question of what might be hiding at the bottom of the laundry basket if it were ever to be reached, the protagonist positions herself for the leap. The leap into the supposed emptiness that turns out be an explosion of colors, materials, and sounds. Free from constantly dirty laundry—soaked by “tears, sweat, and love juice”—the protagonist swirls through a psychedelic round dance of colorful clothing, which as cloud and tangled ball let us only imagine their original purpose. Everyday monotony’s poetic side becomes evident in a dance of freedom—doing laundry as a Sisyphus task accompanied by birds’ chirping and guitar sounds, the ecstasy of the carefully completed task.
In the seven-minute animation, the Austrian artist’s rich diversity becomes evident: animation, painting, music, sculpture, literature, and dance—utterly different disciplines flow together and yield a polyphonic ode to a common object. The longing of people and living creatures, the modern world’s excessive demands, and the screen as motif run throughout Razkövi’s works. Here, the washing machine’s porthole is a blind pane to the world and the laundry basket a gateway to a carefree dimension, free of the anchor of eternally dirty clothes. At its bottom—freedom? The question appears to remain unanswered, but what is clear is that this fresh scented state lasts only until the next stain and at the most, until a child starts searching for their black-and-white striped socks. (Christina Wintersteiger)
Translation: Lisa Rosenblatt
Auf dem Grund des Wäschekorbs
2021
Austria
7 min