ADEMEIT
Director Marcus Werner Hed, Michael Bauer
Countries Germany, United Kingdom
Duration 26 min
Synopsis
HORST ADEMEIT „It’s only a matter of time before I have – you – caught – red handed!“ Horst Ademeit For nearly twenty years (1989–2007) Horst Ademeit documented the 'cold rays' that impacted on and influenced him during this period. With this exhaustive inventory, covering almost every day of his life during the period in question, Ademeit sought to examine and demonstrate the existence of these rays. The result was several thousand densely-annotated Polaroid photographs and 3,000 spheres lathed-turned out of a wide variety of woods, to be worn about his person to deflect the cold rays. These photographic records feature systematic repetition, both in the descriptions and in the observation techniques. The pictures show his immediate surroundings: his apartment, the neighbor’s garden and his tortoises, the basement, electricity and water meters, construction sites, abandoned possessions, advertising boards, parking lots, and other pieces of urban wasteland and non-places. Passersby appear only occasionally and do not play a major role. Ademeit, the driven observer, links his microcosm with current world events and his daily activities are dictated by the creation of chains of evidence and the need to record them, forming an inevitable routine. His camera is almost never pointed at the sky. The film documents this methodology, psychology and creative practice through interviews with Ademeit and his doctor, examination of his theories, and observations of his habits. It is also punctuated regularly by examples of his photography, with Ademeit simultaneously reading aloud the Polaroid's accompanying text, which is often detailed, puzzling, and poetic. Alongside the real world, there exists a parallel, ominous reality perceived only by Ademeit, a reality determined solely by the cold rays.
HORST ADEMEIT „It’s only a matter of time before I have – you – caught – red handed!“ Horst Ademeit For nearly twenty years (1989–2007) Horst Ademeit documented the 'cold rays' that impacted on and influenced him during this period. With this exhaustive inventory, covering almost every day of his life during the period in question, Ademeit sought to examine and demonstrate the existence of these rays. The result was several thousand densely-annotated Polaroid photographs and 3,000 spheres lathed-turned out of a wide variety of woods, to be worn about his person to deflect the cold rays. These photographic records feature systematic repetition, both in the descriptions and in the observation techniques. The pictures show his immediate surroundings: his apartment, the neighbor’s garden and his tortoises, the basement, electricity and water meters, construction sites, abandoned possessions, advertising boards, parking lots, and other pieces of urban wasteland and non-places. Passersby appear only occasionally and do not play a major role. Ademeit, the driven observer, links his microcosm with current world events and his daily activities are dictated by the creation of chains of evidence and the need to record them, forming an inevitable routine. His camera is almost never pointed at the sky. The film documents this methodology, psychology and creative practice through interviews with Ademeit and his doctor, examination of his theories, and observations of his habits. It is also punctuated regularly by examples of his photography, with Ademeit simultaneously reading aloud the Polaroid's accompanying text, which is often detailed, puzzling, and poetic. Alongside the real world, there exists a parallel, ominous reality perceived only by Ademeit, a reality determined solely by the cold rays.