Grand Tour
"Freeze-frame shots of individual picture motifs are taken side by side in the same sequence in which they are sorted into her archive. Each frame lasts for only a few seconds, and is backed by a soundtrack of literary travel journals from different epochs that relate to each motif, designed to show how the tourist perspective is shaped by pictures and literary representations. In the 17th and 18th century any self-respecting young artist starting out on his career would as a matter of course embark on his grand tour or formative trip to Italy; art academies offered scholarships to Rome to enable young artists to spend several years living and travelling in Italy, and receive the appropriate training. The artists would stroll together among the ruins of classical antiquity and make on-site sketches of monuments and landscape views which, once rendered into full-size paintings, would be sold to patrons and admirers throughout Europe. The often autobiographically motivated literary theme that fills the account of the artists' years of apprenticeship and travels, or Goethe's impressions of his 'Italian Journey', contributed in their way to the emergent notion of cultural tourism. A few exceptions notwithstanding it was not until the 1920s – if at all – that female artists themselves began to travel. One aspect of this video work, then, is the use of quoted excerpts from travel journals to question how role models and behavioural patterns have changed over time as they apply to travel as well as the status of the female artist." Ulrike Matzer
(translation: Stephen Grynwasser)
"Freeze-frame shots of individual picture motifs are taken side by side in the same sequence in which they are sorted into her archive. Each frame lasts for only a few seconds, and is backed by a soundtrack of literary travel journals from different epochs that relate to each motif, designed to show how the tourist perspective is shaped by pictures and literary representations. In the 17th and 18th century any self-respecting young artist starting out on his career would as a matter of course embark on his grand tour or formative trip to Italy; art academies offered scholarships to Rome to enable young artists to spend several years living and travelling in Italy, and receive the appropriate training. The artists would stroll together among the ruins of classical antiquity and make on-site sketches of monuments and landscape views which, once rendered into full-size paintings, would be sold to patrons and admirers throughout Europe. The often autobiographically motivated literary theme that fills the account of the artists' years of apprenticeship and travels, or Goethe's impressions of his 'Italian Journey', contributed in their way to the emergent notion of cultural tourism. A few exceptions notwithstanding it was not until the 1920s – if at all – that female artists themselves began to travel. One aspect of this video work, then, is the use of quoted excerpts from travel journals to question how role models and behavioural patterns have changed over time as they apply to travel as well as the status of the female artist." Ulrike Matzer
(translation: Stephen Grynwasser)
