Fluentum presents ›THEATER‹, a solo exhibition by the artist duo Calla Henkel and Max Pitegoff, which explores the radical changes taking place in performance art today.
Image gallery
Schriftzug Ausstellung, Grau
The exhibition marks the start of their new series of films of the same name, the first three episodes of which were commissioned by Fluentum and premiered in September.
The setting and location for the new film by Henkel and Pitegoff is the New Theater Hollywood, which the duo has been running in Los Angeles since January 2024.
In ‘THEATER’, fiction and the documentation of the performances taking place in the theater merge: the recordings of the rehearsals at the New Theater Hollywood form the basis for the story around the character Kennedy, played by filmmaker Leilah Weinraub.
After a car accident, Kennedy uses her compensation money to buy a theatre and moves into the new location to form an ensemble there. Her quest for community is characterised by the cult-like dynamics needed to hold a group together, as well as the firm hope of a better life through fame.
During this process, Kennedy is plagued by strikes, ghosts, exploitation and the madness of living between other people's ambitions.
For the exhibition at Fluentum, Henkel and Pitegoff are drawing on their former adopted home of Berlin: the ongoing photo series Casts (2018-) connects past and current projects, as well as old and new artistic colleagues.
‘THEATER’ is a follow-up to their last film, Paradise (2020-2022), which was shot over three years in the TV Bar in Berlin-Schöneberg, which the duo runs. Both films thrive on the unpredictable energy of the spaces the duo shapes and the people who populate them. The lived experiences drive the narratives and raise larger questions about documentation, the performance of work, and collective memory.
Recorded on 16mm film and narrated by subtitles, ‘THEATER’ moves between long poems and photography, accompanied by a composition by MK Velsorf. The episodic film will be continued as long as the New Theater Hollywood exists.
The exhibition was curated by Dennis Brzek and Junia Thiede.
