Premiere and Book Presentation:
Floating by Michael Pilz
May 8, 2025
Michael Pilz conceived of Die Weidinger Gespräche as an attempt at radically turning the act of speaking with one another into text. Twelve lengthy, one-on-one conversations in Viennese coffee houses served as the material. The topics included art, fear, childhood – anything possible, wherever the conversation happened to wander. Then the work of textualization. Our aim was: to go as meticulously and deeply as possible into the unconscious part of our speech: We rigorously kept every hesitation in the start-overs, unnecessary comments, and mistakes. In print, the sentences are meant to flow (no justified typesetting!). We were unable to transfer vocal pitch, gestures, and intonation.
This approach contains traces of the personal idiosyncrasies of Michael Pilz's films. He often lets the camera sweep by as if "free" of intention or remain for a long time in one place. Silence and "dead time" become events and a choreography of chance.
The subject matter? The wish to fully be "THERE." (Birgit Flos / Translation: Ted Fendt)
Birgit Flos, Michael Pilz: Die Weidinger Gespräche, Bibliothek der Provinz 2025. In German
Michael Pilz conceived of Die Weidinger Gespräche as an attempt at radically turning the act of speaking with one another into text. Twelve lengthy, one-on-one conversations in Viennese coffee houses served as the material. The topics included art, fear, childhood – anything possible, wherever the conversation happened to wander. Then the work of textualization. Our aim was: to go as meticulously and deeply as possible into the unconscious part of our speech: We rigorously kept every hesitation in the start-overs, unnecessary comments, and mistakes. In print, the sentences are meant to flow (no justified typesetting!). We were unable to transfer vocal pitch, gestures, and intonation.
This approach contains traces of the personal idiosyncrasies of Michael Pilz's films. He often lets the camera sweep by as if "free" of intention or remain for a long time in one place. Silence and "dead time" become events and a choreography of chance.
The subject matter? The wish to fully be "THERE." (Birgit Flos / Translation: Ted Fendt)
Birgit Flos, Michael Pilz: Die Weidinger Gespräche, Bibliothek der Provinz 2025. In German
