RAINER KIRBERG

A PROJECT FOR THE BEETHOVEN FRIEZE

THE BEETHOVEN FRIEZE AS REFERENCE SYSTEM FOR THE PROJECT

In the picture program of his frieze, Klimt pursues an ambiguous narrative strategy. It is manifested in the figure of the hero of the narrative, the “knight in shining armor.” To the extent that the “knight in shining armor,” representing “suffering humanity,” sets out to conquer the “hostile forces,” this figure stems on the one hand from the narrative model of the initiation story, according to which the hero emancipates himself from the imaginary world of childhood in confrontation with reality, thus entering into the adult world.

On the other hand—and contrary to this—in the Beethoven Frieze Klimt deals with a story of salvation: the “knight in shining armor” stands for the artist (of the Secession) giving comfort to “suffering humanity” in the “ideal realm” of art, in other words leading humanity into an imaginary world beyond the reality dominated by the “hostile forces.”

The program of the frieze can thus be read as a hybrid of two narratives, which contradictorily succeed and supplement one another. The heroic message of the initiation story—victory over the “hostile forces”—is transformed into the program of salvation through art, in whose logic the confrontation with precisely these forces is left out: “the desires and wishes of mankind fly away above this.”

Consciously or unconsciously, Klimt did justice to this ambiguity of his narrative by assigning the key picture of the frieze to a literally other-worldly place: the segment preceding this picture is the only one in the entire frieze that remains untreated; it functions as a caesura separating the key picture from the narrative. This lacuna is a symptom of the unresolved contradictions of the Klimtian program: before the heterogeneous narrative levels reach their - impossible - conclusion, they are interrupted. Specifically the apotheosis of harmony that is invoked by the happy end of both narratives is taken out of the narrative flow. It is at this lacuna, a segment of the frieze that is as unremarkable as it is important, that my work begins.

THE PROJECT

The narrative productively continues the unresolved contradictions of the Klimt picture program. The work centers around the narrative lacuna localized above. From there, the thematic substrate of the frieze is to be demonstrated on the basis of contemporary subjects as a dramatic dilemma, an unfinished dialogue. The work is arranged in three segments that correspond to the stages of film production: screenplay—storyboard—film. In this case, however, it is not one and the same narrative that is to be presented in all three states of its creation—a concept like this would adhere too closely to the didactics of how to make a film, thus obeying industrial rationality, according to which the film is the definitive stage of the production process, whereas script and storyboard are subordinated stages. Instead, I intend to create a spatial installation, which assigns an equal position to each of these “aggregate states” of the narrative.

The narrative divided into three segments (acts, episodes) is, in addition, stripped of its linear structure, as it is referred—to a certain extent spatially—back to itself. The inevitability of the “vicious circle” that distinguishes this structure simultaneously functions as the formal intersection with the subject. What is narrated is the story of three people—each of them representing the protagonist in one of the segments—whose paths of life cross more or less intentionally and with drastic consequences; in this way, they become mutually entangled in an overlapping chain of events.

Although they are contemporary, the character profiles of the three are borrowed from the thematic field of the Klimt frieze: In keeping with Klimt’s contradictory view of his hero, the figure of the “knight in shining armor” is divided into two characters. The mode of interpretation of the initiation story is the foundation for the figure of an Islamic Assassin, who pursues his mission to liberate “suffering humanity” from the “hostile forces” in his own way. The spirit of the story of salvation determines the figure of a Bio-engineer, who seeks to lead “suffering humanity” out of the constraints of their natural existence, opening up to them the “ideal realm” of a species improved through biogenetic engineering. And finally, a young woman embodies an ambivalent character, who grounds the Klimtian phantasm of dionysian-destructive femininity, as it is evident at the front end of the frieze, in the here and now.

The interweaving of the paths of life of these three characters, which makes them protagonists of one story, arises as follows: The assassin—an intelligent man educated in the west—comes to a research institute in central Europe disguised as a scientist. His target in this covert operation is the bio-engineer, who is working on an antidote against a virus that has been genetically engineered as a biological weapon. The bio-engineer recognizes the identity of his colleague at the last moment and must destroy the object of his own work, in order to prevent it from becoming a lethal threat in the hands of the assassin.

PLOT B (FILM)

The impact of this experience leads the bio-engineer to give up his job and leave his wife, in order to start a new life with his lover—a young woman that he met during a conference as the employee of an escort service. The young woman had placed great hopes in the affair and quit her job in the confidence hat the bio-engineer would make his choice for her. Now that this seems about to happen, she recognizes for herself that this dream is an illusion. Disappointed by love, the young woman seeks a new orientation for her life—she becomes a professional soldier.

PLOT C (STORYBOARD)

Deployed in a crisis area, the young woman and her company are ambushed by Islamic guerillas. As her people take up the fight, the young woman is captured. The head of the guerillas—the man we know from Plot A—dispassionately ensures that his comrades do not harm her. When the company receives reinforcement and the guerillas face defeat, the leader succeeds in using the young woman as security for his freedom and escapes.

1 The empty segment is due primarily to the architectonic circumstances of the original exhibition location. However, I am not the first to consider reasons relating to the subject for the autonomous position of the key picture: “The following empty expanse seems to be a—probably thematically induced—caesura between the two last scenes.” Marian Bisanz-Prakken, The
Beethoven Frieze by Gustav Klimt and the Vienna Secession, in: Gustav Klimt, Beethovenfries, Wien 2002, p. 29, emphasis R.K.).

2 The story of salvation ends solipsistically in the union of the artist with his muse; the end of the initiation story is marked by a social act: the marriage of the hero with the betrothed (the “princess”), which ensures the genealogical merging of the ruling family with the victorious one.

3/A – SCRIPT Scientific Counseling: Prof. Dr. Kathryn Nixdorff, Dr. Jan van Aken Graphic Design: Claudia Kefer Author: Rainer Kirberg

3/B – FILM Maria: Alexandra Henkel Dr. Weiss: Dietmar König Camera: Harald Staudach Music: Volker Kirberg Editing: Harald Aue Costume & Props: Sabine Volz, Andrea Salzmann, Rainer Kirberg Make Up: Martha Ruess Sound: Bruce Hops Gaffer: Gerhard Deimel 2nd Unit Camera: Alf Staudach Sound assistant: Johannes Plaschka Floor Manager: Erich Mader Production Assistant: Thomas Knötzl Coordination: Betty Pernegger Producer: Ernst Mican Script & Directed by: Rainer Kirberg

3/C – STORYBOARD
Illustrations: Stefan Albers
Concept & Design: Rainer Kirberg