titre provisoire | Cathleen Schuster & Marcel Dickhage, A cold case or happiness (2023)

In the organizer's words:

Situation Kunst, upper floor hall of the cube building
Introduction and moderation: Prof. Dr. Markus Heinzelmann and Dr. Maria Bremer, followed by an artist talk

Free admission; registration is not required.

In the 34-minute film loop entitled A cold case or happiness, three performers approach the paradox of a happy life in times of various overlapping crises of the present, such as the real estate crisis, the Anthropocene or the Capitalocene. In a scenic presence of contradictions in contemporary Los Angeles, they use their bodies and words to negotiate moments of solidarity and resistance. The film goes back to a question that Erika Runge, a writer with a doctorate, committed feminist and communist, raised in the 1960s: Can a claim to happiness explode the system under these specific conditions?
The screening will be followed by a discussion with the artists titre provisoire (Cathleen Schuster and Marcel Dickhage). In addition to the content and techniques of the film, the accompanying reflection on artistic lifestyles and working methods will also be the subject of discussion.
The event follows the screening of the multi-award-winning documentary Warum ist Frau B. glücklich? (1968, WDR, 43 min.) - for which director Erika Runge invited the miner's widow, housewife and cleaner Maria Bürger to play the role of her own life - on the previous evening (Wed, July 3, 6-8 p.m., Museum unter Tage).

titre provisoire is an artistic collaboration between Cathleen Schuster and Marcel Dickhage. They are alumni of the Whitney Independent Study Program and the Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst Leipzig and their works have been shown at the Singapore Biennale 2019, Sharjah Art Foundation, after the butcher Berlin, Taxispalais Kunsthalle Tirol, Kunstverein Harburger Bahnhof Hamburg, Berlinische Galerie, GfZK Leipzig, Ludlow 38 New York, Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, SAVVY Contemporary and the Kyiv Biennale 2015. Most recently, they conceived the publication and screening program "Coincidences in Prepositions" in collaboration with Renan Laru-an, the Vargas Museum Manila and the Harun Farocki Institute Berlin. The film project A cold case or happiness was developed in spring 2023 as part of a residency of the MAK-Schindler Program in Los Angeles.

In cooperation with the DFG Research Training Group 2132 "The Documentary. Excess and Withdrawal" (Ruhr University Bochum).