Schmidt, M., Kranstedt, F., Keller, M., Kriesel, B., Kunze, H., 2009.

'Sterben Im Museum'. (Dying In A Museum). 'L'Expose du Mort' ('The Exposition of Death')

Fox appeared in a film for ARTE, a German/French cultural channel, 'Sterben Im Museum'. 'L'Expose du Mort' ('The Exposition of Death') directed by Marion Schmidt in May 2009. The documentary features the works of Christian Boltanski, Gregor Schneider, & Walter Schnels. This program was shown to fifty million people in France and Germany.The film "Dying in the Museum?" also asks how other contemporary artists, besides Gregor Schneider, deal with the sensitive subject of death in their work. Christian Boltanski, for example, is one of the most sought-after artists of our time. His work materials are the remains of the dead. Boltanski's entire work revolves around the question: what remains of a person who has died? He is currently collecting the heartbeats of people, which will be archived on a Japanese island in the future. However, Boltanski strictly refuses to show the dead directly.
He feels that this is ethically impossible. The English photo artist Sue Fox, who spent years photographing corpses in crematoria and anatomical institutes and captured the death of her own mother in pictures, takes a completely different view. Or the photographer Walter Schels and the journalist Beate Lakotta, who spent six months accompanying and portraying people in hospices - before and after their death. For them, human dignity demands that people continue to look at them even after they have died. In addition to artists who deal with the topic of death and dying in their work, a potential user of the death room also has his say. Gerd Gerhard Loeffler, an artist himself, sees Gregor Schneider's work of art "Death Room" as a conceivable perspective for himself.
Gerd Gerhard Loeffler has a brain tumor. He doesn't know how much time he has left. And it remains to be seen whether the death room will ultimately be an opportunity for him to come to terms with his own death. The film "Dying in the Museum?" deepens the debate about what art is allowed to do and what role death and dying play in the current art scene. The filmmaker carefully approaches the artists and those affected. The questions she raises are so fundamental that they directly concern every viewer, far beyond the circle of art enthusiasts.
(arte)
Length: approx. 70 min.
German TV premiere: May 28, 2009 (arte)