Painting #3 (Il Deserto Rosso)

“Painting #3” shows a key sequence from Michelangelo Antonioni’s film Il Deserto Rosso, which is revisited and transformed into a new version. Through slow painting gestures, the film sequence becomes visible. The work explores themes of remembering and forgetting, of losing and finding oneself. It moves fluidly between performance, film, and painting. Other films by different filmmakers are also processed; Painting is intended as a series of works, yet each piece can stand independently.

At the Museum of Art Lucerne, the installation was on view until January 6, 2019, presented without sound. For the 2019 “Film:Schweiz” festival in the Brotfabrik Berlin, a new sound version was developed and produced specifically for the cinema space.

BFI – The best video essays of 2019 : «Our annual survey of moving-image criticism in movie form features recommendations from 39 essayists and experts, recommending videos from 51 seconds to 4½ hours long that explore the powers and possibilities of cinema and more.»

Johannes Binotto (researcher and lecturer in film and media studies, hat wearer, video tinkerer) mentioned Painting #3 by Ruth Baettig (see details): Although not strictly a video essay, I consider Ruth Baettig’s installation Painting #3 a high point of videographic research. Moments from Antonioni’s The Red Desert projected onto glass only become visible as the artist applies paint onto the otherwise transparent surface. Rarely has the double meaning of “screen”—as both barrier and display—been demonstrated so elegantly, showing that watching films is never passive consumption but depends on active participation.