video feature
Refugee Film Collection 2.0
Artneuland Berlin
Really, Wilfried does not understand why people think – the Internet would not forget. Instead, the Internet is the biggest and the worst cemetery and that place where the “forgetting” is truly celebrated. The Internet does not exist through itself, and in this way, it is not the Internet which is collecting data, but the data to be called up do only exist because people had published them before and decided to keep them on the net or remove them from the net. So, the Internet is actually used as the great opinion manipulating machine.
In his daily research for facts and evidence, that the data Wilfried was collecting for representing the basis for his own artist biography were true, at all, often, but not too often he is finding, at least some notes, people once were releasing in the framework of public mailing lists in the case these list are still archiving all postings. And then, by following artists biographies in Internet he recognizes what the artists think it would be relevant to post. Of course, this is good for anything to be published, whether online or offline, because everything is following one’s own subjective perceptions.
It is interesting, how certain festivals active since more than 20 years under the same direction, estimate their own status as a cultural instance, and it becomes clear, that the respective festival director is celebrating himself, because the only data which were archived are related to this person and some prominent names underlining his own prominence, whereby all other participant’s names are cut.
Wilfried found it particularly typical, when he researched for the activities of The Museum of New Art located in Detroit/USA founded by a certain guy, names Jef Bourgeau. in the 90’ies of the past century.
It was certainly a big achievement to become initiative in terms of contemporary art in an industrial place like Detroit. Wilfried got involved in the beginning of the millennium, when Jef Bourgeau published calls in Internet asking for artists participation. As such this was very honourable of course, and even more, when this guy selected Wilfried’s submission for Documenta USA , a huge exhibition, and Wilfried participated in this way like many hundreds of other artists in sequence several times in events organised in the framework of this museum, like VidFest DetroitVidFest Detroit, a video festival attracting not only many artists, but many visitors as well. And now searching for information, Wilfried found a shabby website of that Museum of New Art celebrating Jef Bourgeau as its founder, which actually nobody could complain, if the page on “WIX” would not falsify facts by dropping them under the table.
This site is demonstrating, that neither this guy, nor art critics or artists recognized the real achievements and the true relevance of his initiatives. For him, it is important to be connected with some famous names like Andy Warhol, and this way his provincial mind is manifesting himself by publishing the truncated history of his museum on the net, as if it is not worth to be mentionned, at all.
Wilfried, at least, did not find any trace of his own participation or events he was participating in, nor the participation of other artists, and this way, the people who made Jef Bourgeau successful. This article would not like to blame him, but point to an inappropriate dealing with history like countless other people do, as well – in this way, it is a rather destructive way.
And regarding himself, Wilfried thinks, in the beginning he was following that kind of “egotrip”, as well, focussing his artist biography on himself, until he understood, that the actual relevance as an artist is the context he personally was participating in, the context with other artists and contents, thus the “social” context. It was a big surprise, when he found out, that hardly participating for the first time (2001 – after his coma) in participatory events like festivals, even without being already active as an organiser himself, he met all those artists he was collaborating later with, already at that early stage in the context of such festivals, of course virtually only, and this way his own participation got a completely different meaning.
This is particularly good for exhibition contexts, like
Artneuland’s new exhibition project – ART OF EMERGENCY – opened by Yael Katz Ben Shalom on 5 February 2009 @ Artneuland e.V., Schumannstraße 18, 10117 Berlin and running until 15 March 2009 – initiated in the framework of its cultural, social, and political engagement, as another exhibition context for artists who care about the mutual tragedy of the people in the Middle East. 
Wilfried is participating with his video
Exhibition
Participating creators – Hannan Abu Hussein & Haim Adri, Agricola de Cologne, Cheb M. Kammerer & Sharon Horodi, Guy Raz, Werkstadt Graz, Hannan Abu-Hussein, Stephan Weitzel, Heike Barndt
Performers: Dovrat Ana Meron, Tiefenrauschorchester and Razia Mizrahi (Dragonfly duo)
And artists: Adam Nankervis, Al Fadhil, Ala Al-Baba, Alexander Callsen, Amer Shomali, Amit Epstein, Amnon Friedmann, Ana Bilankov, Anat Behrman, Andrea Huyoff, Andrea Lange, Anette Urbanski, Angela Bergling, Annett Kuhlmann, Ariel Reichman, Aurore Reinicke, Bärbel Möllmann & Julia Gerlach, Benita S., Benjamin Heine, Benoit Géhanne, Benoit Singy, Benyamin Reich, Bilu Blich, Cheb Kammerer & Sharon Horodi, Christian de Lutz, Christof Schröter, Christoph Kasten, Claude Delmas, Dan Reisner, Daniel Jackson, Dorit Feldman, Dotan & Perry, Dovrat Ana Meron, Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung, Eitan Vitkon, Eliahu Gal-Or, Felix Koltermann, France Lerner, Gili Avissar, Guy Raz, Hanan Abu Hussein, Hasan Elahi, Heike Barndt, Heiko Daxl & Ingeborg Fülepp, Helly Mizrai, Ilana Lewitan, Inga Fonar Cocos, Jan Krayyem, 
Jasmin Gershony-Geyer, Javier Rodriguez, Joachim Behnke, Jonathan Acker, Joseph Semah, Karen Gillerman Harel, Karol Slowik, Keren Amiran & Tal Ben Amar, Lea Golda Holterman, Leah Elsey & Sonia Uddin, Leo Königsberg, Levy Shimon, Li Koelan, Lody Mewa & Tomasz Tarczynski, Marco Giani, Martin Hoffmann, Michael Igudin, Michaela Strumberger, Michal Dudek, Michal Fuhrer, Michal Yehezkel, Moshi Gitelis, Nadav Assor, Necmi Aydin, Neus Pastor, Nicola Rubinstein, Nir Kafri, Norma Drimmer, Orit Ishay, Pedro Balbás, Pip Brant, Rafi Műnz, Rainer Rehfeld, Rakefet Viner Omer, Razia Mizrahi, Rei Dishon, Reuven Zahavi, Revital Cohen, Rinat Reisner, Ron Golz, Ronen Siman Tov, Roy Mordechay, Sabine Schiffer, Salam Diab, Sarawut Chutiwongpeti, Sharon Paz, Shimon Palombo, Shira Richter, Shira Wachsmann, Stephan Weitzel, Stephana Schmidt, Tanya Ury, Thomas Müller, Tim Deussen, Tobias Becker, Toufic Beyhum, Ülkü Bal, Uri Bar-on, Varda Getzow, Wilmar König, Wolf Abraham, Yudith Schreiber, and Zari Harat.9 March 2017
Today, Refugee Film Collection released Refugee 2.0, another participatory context, based on submissions on the 2nd open call in 2016. Initiated on occasion of the international refugee crisis 2015, the 2nd edition signalized the crisis isn’t over, but probably did not even start, yet.Yovista Ahtajida (Indonesia), Mo’ Mohamed Benhadj (Algeria), Sean Burn (UK), Gabin Cortez Chance (USA) , Stephen Chen (Canada) , Oksana Chepelyk (Ukraine), Oksana Chepelyk (Ukraine) , Citron | Lunardi (Selene Citron and Luca Lunardi) (Italy), Virginia Eleuteri Serpieri (Italy), Anna Faroqhi & Haim Peretz (Germany) , Johannes Christopher Gérard (Germany), David Gutema Gamatchis (Hungary), Grace Graupe-Pillard (USA), Jake Martin Graves (UK), Silvia De Gennaro (Italy), Sana Ghobbeh, Silvia Amancei, Bogdan Armanu (Iran) , Florentia Ikonomidou (Greece), Lucija Konda Labas (Croatia), Elena Knox (Australia), Maria Korporal (Netherlands), Les Riches Douaniers (Gilles Richard & Fabrice Zoll) (France), Daniela Lucato (Italy) , Nenad Nedeljkov (Serbia), Isabel Pérez del Pulgar (Spain), Simone Stoll (Germany), Gabriele Stellbaum (Germany), Mohamed Thara (Morocco), Daniel Wechsler (Israel) , Jana Wisniewski (Austria), Masha Maria Yozefpolsky (Israel), Monika Zywer (Poland).
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a complementary selection of refugee videos
