Text/script excerpt:

1975: The extras have all arrived in the red room. It is 1975. The Committee of the Workers’ Party has also arrived. They have not yet taken their places. They are instructed to wait for the moment; the podium hasn’t been cleaned yet. The ashtrays are full; a red felt cloth is spread over the long table. The spotlights are arranged. A man is sitting at the long table. The podium is too tall; the architect decides that everything has to redone. The extras wait, drinking beer. A girl pulls on the beard of one of the functionaries. He kicks her roughly in the shin—Stop it, damn it. We wait some more; now everyone is sitting aligned in the long rows of chairs; the functionaries and union representatives have taken their places. Meanwhile thick cigarette smoke is rising from the podium. The annual meeting of the representatives of the Central Committee has begun. The extras are given quiet instructions from behind. From the badly arranged rows of chairs they are trying to get a halfway decent view of the podium. Points are made; decisions are made; salaries are discussed. “It isn’t right that a fireman should earn less than a police officer.” The atmosphere is tense, and the scene has to be repeated five times. “Listen to what they’re saying up there!” In the second-to-last row a man bends over the woman sitting in front of him. He slowly raises her dark blouse, pushes his hand under her shirt, touches her breast. Those of us in the back row struggle not to be noticed. Nevertheless we try to capture the screen quickly with the camera we have hidden in a file folder until now.

TV Intervention, undated
A scene on a stage. Entry of the highest functionary; he is drunk and falls off the stage.
Several delegates are standing on the temporary podium. The portly men in dark suits stand around the microphone until finally a fat, half-bald man with a large birthmark on his forehead presses his way forward, or rather is pushed, groaning. He trembles precariously. Two security guards try to support him. The crowd presses closer and closer. “Comrades, brothers!” he suddenly bellows, and his voice rises dangerously. The fat men in suits sneak glances at one another. The half-bald man with the birthmark takes another precarious marching step forward. But the security guards restrain him. Voices grow louder. Suddenly the man with the birthmark falls forward and collapses into the crowd. The others watch as everything seems to be happening in slow motion. He had fallen from the podium. We thought about how the first cosmonauts returned to earth; we watched them on TV; they were given medals.

1932
The extras assemble behind a projection. The instruction is to move back and forth quietly. The projection of the wall is just large enough for bodies to hide behind it with heads hanging out to the side. The walls are brick red, layered, held from a distance by a steel-tube structure. Behind it are empty Styrofoam cups with leftover coffee and cigarette butts. The extras have to duck. Behind the projection lies Petra von Kant with her female lover on a rustic bed. Wait. More. Repeat. The extras are supposed to remain in position. Her lover says: “We must try to stop the war, if only I knew how. For the Americans it’s all about oil. We are governed by an oil lobby. I tried to participate in all the demonstrations in the city, but I don’t have the time anymore. I feel so weak to start something myself, to organize something, here and now.” Meanwhile Petra von Kant is braiding her lover’s pigtail, as the production manager had instructed her. The production manager deletes the images from the digital camera again; let’s use the cine film. We film directly from the monitor. The extras have to persevere in the corner. Meanwhile Petra von Kant pushes herself slowly out of bed. We try to capture the brief, uncontrolled smile that darts across her face.

The extras are:
Sandra Kulbach, Edina Cehajic, Christoph Clausen, Selma Danyluk, Claudia Jakobec, Monika Jäger, Pawlik Kerestey, Olenka Martchenko, Zorian Martchenko, Ollie Purcell, Bettina Spangler

Voice: Monika Jäger
Music and sound: Szuper Gallery

co-produced by Shedhalle Zurich, 2005

© SZUPER GALLERY: Susanne Clausen and Pavlo Kerestey, 2005

Thanks to:

Shedhalle Zurich, Katharins Schlieben, Sönke Gau, Lisa Mazza, Sandra Kulbach, Edina Cehajic, Christoph Clausen, Selma Danyluk, Claudia Jakobec, Monika Jäger, Pawlik Kerestey, Olenka Martchenko, Zorian Martchenko, Ollie Purcell, Bettina Spangler, Baureferat der Landeshauptstadt München, Ursula und Dieter Clausen, Marta und Michailo Kerestey.