Moment of Force -Movie from Dieter Roth

The experimental Movies "Pop", "Pop1", "Dock1", "Dock2", "Letter", and "Dot" from Dieter Roth are in the attention of the exhibition "Moment of Force".

Roth created the movies 1957 in Kopenhagen, distroyed them after he finished them and reconstructed them again 1961 in Reykjavík. The motive for the exhibition is this year's 10th anniversary of death of the international outstanding artist, who was born in Hannover.

Dieter Roths diverse work goes from painting, graphic and drawings, objects and sculptures, editions, furniture and jewelery, action, istallation, audio- and video works to movies. As an artist, editor, teacher, poet and curator of his own work he united art and life in an extraordinary way and decisively influenced his and future art generations.

The unusual esthetics of the movie unfold, based on the idea of a "insane moment of force", Roths statement from a interview from 1976, in combination of movenment and light, the game of letters and the concrete work of the movie material.

For "Dot", for example, Roth stamped with the help of a leather caliper, holes directly into the content of the movie. The different sizes of holes that are jumping thru the entire movie, are becoming a immanent part of the piece.

The movies are standing in comparison between kinetic objects and graphic works of the artist from the 1950's to the 1970's. This way, concept, esthetic and formal relations between movies and the painted work can be expressed. The experience of the processed painting that is leading Roth to his first peak level, will be noticeable around 1954.

In the conflict with the zurich concrets, like Max Bull and Camille Graeser, works genesised where Roth deals with virtual ligh- and movenment phenomenoms. In this movies Rogh let the plane space of his concrete work, with the provocation of the eye, thru fast pictures changes, overlaping and ligheffects, behind. The movies prove to be a consistent continuation of the idea, to bring out the virtual movement.

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