Kunstvlaai 7
My Little Nijlpaard Original (2006) and Reenactment (2008)
Artreview by Lynne van Rhijn
Artspace Sign from Groningen shows two videos by Rik Möhlmann. The first, Original (2006), is one of six with which he graduated from Minerva Academy. It is an intuitive mixture of both video material he shot himself and of footage he found on the internet. By combining the funny and the poetic, light entertainment on the one hand and more serious allusions to hypermedia on the other, Möhlmann gives the viewer a visual experience that lacks a plot, rather like life itself is: a plotless, random series of events. The idea for the second film arose when Möhlmann came across a clip on YouTube of rubber balls floating on roaring water - subject matter he had filmed himself as well. He came to wonder if it would be possible to make the entire first film again, yet this time using only found footage. The result, Reenactment, from 2008, gives us another rollercoaster of images featuring Oprah Winfrey, a girl on drugs and a hippo. (LvR)
