The Beautiful Island (part 2), 2004. 5min. 29sec. color, stereo.
Central to The Beautiful Island (part 2) is a short fighting scene from Rebel Without a Cause (1954) with James Dean. Through Krippendorff’s editing, the scene slowly turns into a choreographed dance, losing its actual sense of violence. A female voice softly whispers about a beautiful place where nature is intact and one is freed of all worries: a lost paradise. Two parallel narratives unfold: the fight scene and images of a lush nature free of any traces of mankind. The sentences that express the desire to be in a “better world” are quotes from Madonna’s hit La Isla Bonita, a choice that underlines the utopian escapism that goes hand in hand with violence in our present pop culture.
(excerpt from the press release for the show “The Beautiful Island”, M+R Fricke Gallery, 2005)