Lea Hartlaub

On 25th December 2011 the Georgian Patriarch Ilia II described his 34 year-long leadership as head of the Georgian Orthodox Church as a ‘sunny night’. Beginning in 1989, and going up to the present, the film essay Sunny Night tells of political and social events since Georgian Independence. A variety of formats and sources, disparate images and voices report on protests, recommencements, uproars and wars, and religious identity that centres around the dominant religion of the nation. In the midst of the ongoing shifts and the various state of affairs, the patriarch stands out as the only constant figure. Meanwhile the sermonised religion begins to take on radical forms, going as far as priests forming front row human-chains, leading protests of several thousand orthodox believers chasing a handful of LGBT activist throughout the streets of Tbilisi in May 2013.

sr draws a panorama of human activity spanning centuries and continents. In 16 fragmentary episodes the film reports of political and societal conditions, of theoretical discourses, human creations and realities of everyday life.

„Rare birds in these lands“ explores the rapprochement of the art and the business world in the Netherlands. On October the 21. 2012, four artists, three managers and a curator were invited to participate in a risk analysis workshop. The aim was to analyze the risks that an artist’s intervention in a company could represent for both partners. The voice-over of the video work is a direct transcription of statements gathered at this occasion, while the footage has been shot on location before and after the workshop.