Sommerleute

Nina Könnemann’s exhibition Sommerleute shares its title with the video at its center.  Sommerleute (12:41, 2009) observes people collecting bottles in front of the Volkerfreundschaft fountain in Berlin’s Alexanderplatz as tourists take pictures of street musicians in the late afternoon sun.  Könnemann’s camera focuses on details: close-up shots of gestures and interactions are linked into circular narratives, travelling over the openings of garbage cans, the plastic bags of bottle collectors and Grillwalkers.

The second part of the exhibition displays a music video that Könnemann directed for the German pop band Söhne Mannheims. In Kraft unsres Amtes (By the power vested in us 4:50, 2009) Könnemann uses  similar motives as in Sommerleute but here the images interact with the socially critical lyrics of the music.