Berlin | ArtRegion: Berlin, Kreuzberg

alexander levy

Colin Snapp: Western Monuments

Screening

4. – 18. Dezember 2021

The 12-min film Western Monuments, 2021spurred from an intense experience Colin Snapp had in North Africa a few years ago. He was particularly struck by the kitch-like similarities that the shopping malls of Southern California have to the historic sites in Jordan and Egypt. His parafictional attempt was to frame the malls in a way in which it would be almost impossible to tell the difference between the two landscapes. Once the photo series was completed, Snapp came back to those juxtapositions to produce the film. Moving back to Washington in 2020, he started filming at the local mall where he grew up to show it in a way that could possibly glorify its history in the same way people might do with an important monument. COVID-19 allowed the artist to access the malls in a different way, as the shops were deserted yet still open to the public. The soundtrack accompanying it has been composed with artist Mauro Hertig, meshing up sound recordings from the mall with a reversed Taylor Swift’s hit. This created an almost ghostly prophetic scenario that ended becoming a core point. Thus, the filmic work is a farewell homage to the past while remaining locked in the present.