Liebeserklärung

Angrily, the Master of Ceremonies of the soundless performance stomps off the scene. Vienna is supposed to catch fire, but so far it only smoulders. Instead of the gas burner he used before he now brings a can of flammable liquid to make the rather expressively fashioned model of the city go up in searing flames, only to be extinguishedsoon thereafter by the actor with water from a chamber pot. In the slow-motion presentation of this Declaration of Love, the interplay of fire, smoke and vapour, complete with pyromaniac high priest, takes on a decelerated dynamism and a hallucinating, mystical aura.

Simple means and grand gestures are what Franz Kapfer uses for his photo work and performances. He slips into contemporary roles in the shape of the athletes’ sculptures at the Fascist foro italico in Rome, approaches women and children as a faun, or devotes his attention to pseudo-historical events dressed in a black robe and a helmet — the latter vaguely reminiscent of a human rump and not shaped like any historical helmet known. This knight with his special insignia is a reference back to his childhood and youth, according to the artist. In order to escape the boredom of everyday life he had sought refuge in a fantasy realm with this invincible hero. As a reference to the permanent obsession with sex on the part of adolescent boys, the idea of the helmet with its very peculiar shape was prompted rather quickly.

After all, in this case what the artist sought was not only holding sway over the city, but, much more importantly, the ambivalence found in love. All that destructive energy that is sometimes released, and all those attempts to undo the damage.

(Text: Daniela Gregori, Quelle: http://franzkapfer.wordpress.com/2012/08/06/mocab-serbia-muac-mexico-cit...)