De Bloemenfontein van Worpswede (The Flower Fountain of Worpswede) is a recent video work by Jos de Gruyter and Harald Thys, presently on show in 1646 gallery.
The work consists of a sequence of scenes in which the actors don’t move and are silent. Some of the protagonists look neutral and unmoved, others
look mentally disturbed. Where the scenes show a combination of the persons, they don’t look at each other, they all seem to be locked up in their
own hermetic worlds. Further on, the storyline, as far as there is one, has a Pygmalion-like aspect. There is a story, told by a voice-over and
subtitled in English, which is more or less absurdist and which has apparently nothing to do with the scenes in the video. In a way it perverts
the sequence of the film. As far as that is on purpose, it has succeeded, however, as far as i am concerned, that could have been
done with any other text. Moreover the sequence of scenes are so strong and so well balanced that any other textual addition would be obsolete. Nevertheless, go
and see this great video work, and if you find the text to be a strong aspect of the work, that’s all the better for you!
(Click on the pictures to enlarge)
Bertus Pieters
