In his Natural History, Pliny dates the origin of painting in the first century AD as 6000 years of art invented by the Egyptians. The shadows of people were traced with lines. Later, only one color was used, which was only then replaced by more artistic painting, as it still exists today. Even later, art became more differentiated and light and shadow were invented, with the different colors accentuating each other. In Corinth, the potter Dibutades formed the first sculptures with the help of his daughter, who, out of love for a young man who was going abroad, drew lines around the shadow of his face on the wall by lamplight; the father filled the outline with clay pressed onto it and made an image, which he fired and later exhibited.
The Edith-Ruß-Haus for Media Art Oldenburg will be holding workshops with international artists from fall 2000 onwards. 16 media artists have been invited to take part in the first practical workshop with Werner Nekes, whom Alexander Kluge describes as “one of the most important film avant-gardists in the world”. The first media art workshop at the Edith-Russ-Haus Oldenburg takes place from November 1-10, 2000.
The workshop focuses on the history of the media, from the casting of shadows as the earliest media form to current artistic concepts. For the participants of the workshop, media artists in the year 2000, the task is to work together to realize mythical images artistically as film or video. The results of the workshop will be presented in a subsequent exhibition in the Edith-Russ-Haus.
In addition to this joint work, participants have the opportunity to realize ideas as individual media art works in a medium of their choice, provided that these do not exceed the time and economic framework. The spectrum of these individual artistic concepts on the theme of “Körper.Projektionen” can include all forms of media productions (e.g. photographic and filmic productions, media sculptures and environments, sound installations, digital media projects) and the stay in Oldenburg is at the participants’ own expense. A certificate will be issued for successful participation in the workshop.