- Screening
Cosmos Ottinger movie program - Prater
In cooperation with Kino Moviac, Baden-Baden
Dates
- Su 17.04., 15:00
Artists
- Ulrike Ottinger
Language
- German
Admission
To the exhibition
People, monsters, sensations. With beguiling images, Ulrike Ottinger's film Prater transforms the popular Viennese place of sensations into a cinematic experience. The Prater is a real place of pleasure and a dream machine. There is no technical invention, no groundbreaking idea, no sensational novelty that did not immediately appear in the Prater. The history of the Vienna Prater is told in miniatures from its beginnings to the present day. The colorful appearance of the Prater in the reflection of its technical and media development is illustrated with texts by Elfriede Jelinek, Josef von Sternberg, Erich Kästner, Elias Canetti and accentuated by a variety of music.
Prater dynasties tell of the showman's life. We meet the descendants of the "man without an abdomen", who, together with his wife and children, founded a large number of amusement businesses around 1900 that still exist today. We meet the owners of the Schweizerhaus, managers of a top gastronomic establishment, whose predecessors were imperial huntsmen, or Prater-Heinzi, who repairs decommissioned illusion machines. Together with the Prater visitors of the past and present, we travel without moving from the spot: Vienna is transformed into Little Venice with canals, the Rialto Bridge and the Doge's Palace. From here you can send postcards all over the world. And above all this, the Ferris wheel carries us and offers us a view over the rooftops of Vienna.
By day, the Prater belongs to children and families. With shining eyes, the little ones sit in miniature cars and in front of the Punch and Judy show. The evening magically attracts young people and all those who are young at heart. Then the tea dance turns into a wild disco of lonely hearts. Teenagers show with adventurous acrobatics to Eastern European rap rhythms that no centrifugal force can throw them off balance. A gang of youths prove themselves on the "Watschenmann". And the brightly colored roller coasters glitter above it all. Ejection seats, carousels and bumper cars compete with the stars in the night sky. Reality and illusion, past and present: here they come together in a brilliant rendezvous.
With its breathtaking images, Ulrike Ottinger's film Prater immerses every moviegoer in their own universe of desires and sensations. It combines the cultural history of the oldest amusement park in the world with brilliant insights into the changeability of the technical attractions. At the same time, it tells the story of people for whom the Prater is a place of entertainment, memories or simply the center of their lives. The Vienna Prater is a dream machine. You can be shot into the sky on the latest space technology and meet the monsters of cinema history on the ghost train. The meadow (Pratum) - once the emperor's hunting ground - is now a playground for everyone. Jumping through space and time: it's possible here.