28 September 2019

video feature
Malta
12th Video Vortex Conference

Valletta

Today is the final day of Wilfried’s participation in 12th Video Vortex Conference @ K-Spazju Kreattiv – a magnificent venue for contemporary art located in an ancient fortress.
Actually a good place for the conference, if the conference would have been topic and future related. On 26 September the conference started with the screening of Wilfried’s selection from Refugee Film Collection, it was that topic that fits most due to the current (strange) refugee politics of the Maltese government. It was good also in this sense, that the audience liked the videos. Wilfried had been curious what would happen afterwards, he was expecting to listen to sensational new ideas about video which was giving the conference its name, but he was completely disappointed because he did not find anthing new, nor scientifically interesting, nor any perspectives – beside one or two speakers, nobody had to tell anything, it was as if the intimate circle of the conference participants was celebrating themselves as academics, as if holding a teaching position would represent a criterium for quality,

and then appeared one famous name, which is appearing on nearly all conferences of that kind, and typically besides being a radical feministe she had really nothing to tell. Ancient ideas of ancient topics- completely out of date, some conference referees were complaining that YouTube would censor uploads, and yes of course, such a commercial platform would follow commercial interests and not just that, but manipulate opinion, and what would be the consequences – all these super intelligent academics did not recognize, they have it their own hands, why doesn’t establish a network of Universities their own platform, instead of complaining a situation which cannot be changed. Nobody was interested, that Wilfried is actually holding a solution for all the complained problems is his own hands, running an independant platform without any censorship and commercial restrictions – so at the end of the 2nd day, Wilfried was bored and tired of all the perspectivelessness, and he asked himself, why – for heaven’s sake he had been attending Malta, at all.

And then, the hotel where Wilfried was residing owned by the University was located somewhere in the nowhere land of the suburbs, no public transportation to the city center, no restaurant nearby – if he wanted to eat anything else then fastfood delivered by a service or he wanted to go to the historical city center or simply have a drink he had to take a taxi, but this was so expensive, that he could have booked better a 5 stars hotel in the city center. So, at the end of the conference presentations of the 2nd day, Wilfried did not want to stay longer and follow the screening of videos, which all he had in his own program, so he decided to return to his hotel via an alternative route by using a bus, and after he had his diner close to the depandance of the University (located in one of the suburbs) , it was already dark, but he had been advised by the conference organisers to go back to the hotel by crossing a park located behind the University Dependance. And then it happended- Wilfried lost his orientation completely, the ways were dark, no light, and he did not find the park to cross. Now and then he met dark figures, students who were on their way too late, and each of them was telling Wilfried something else, how he could return to his hotel. So he was wandering around, and step by step – panic came up, and – then by chance, Wilfried had suddenly the idea when he was crossing an empty parking on the other side there might be the park, he saw tress and bushes, and he remembered that some of the people he was asking for the way was warning him, it would be very dangerous to cross the park, because there would be no light. And now entering this “park”, there was indeed no light, it was so dark that Wilfried was just stumpling and struggling and then when he was standing still in order to orientate himself in the dark, he recognized there had to been a person following him, so he tried to hurry up as far as it was possible, at all, because big stones were lying on the way and then suddenly he had to climb a hill , and Wilfried was struggling falling down, and he was not able to get up again, he was completely paralyzed, because he felt the breath of the human being nearby who had been following him through the dark, Wilfried felt absolutely helplessly, expecting each second to get a knive in his belly. Was this his end? Would he be killed right now? Nobody would miss him, nobody would look for him! Horror, terror – the time was standing still for an incredible long while, and then when it was the most unbearable moment – he heard the dark person ask, whether he (it was a young male) could help Wilfried to get up.

It took quite a lot of time until the dark person had managed that Wilfried’s paralyzed body was standing on his legs, and hardly free, Wilfried tried to hurry up again and then on the hill top where it was the end of the park, he saw in the light of the illumination the face of his follower, a young Pakestani, who was looking like as if he would regret to have followed his human feelings instead of killing Wilfried. And then, he was looking down his body and saw his knees and legs covered with mud and through the mud blood was contantly dropping. He was sure that hotel would be not to far, but he had to climb another hill, and more dead than alive he reached it finally.
Wilfried had just one idea to clean the bleeding wound and consult as soon as posssible a doctor, because Wilfried was anxious about Tetanus, because the last vaccination was lying back more than 40 years . Now it was the situation like on an alien planet, because nobody of the hotel persoal was prepared for such an emergency situation – but Wilfried’s fear was to tremendous, that he ordered a taxi to bring him to the next hospital, when he arrived it was about 9 p.m. after a quick first consultation, Wilfried was asked to wait in the waiting room, and he was waiting hour for hour, until at 4.a.m in the morning he was sitting alone in the waiting room, and when he entered the area for the doctors and asked why nobody would care for him, a young lady told he, he would be no priority patient, he would need to wait, although there were no other patients – so, in fact these people were refusing medical help, and shocked by this perception Wilfried left the hospital at 5 a.m. in the morning without any medical treatment.

Today, is the final day of the conference, and the next morning on 29 September, it’s sunday, Wilfried is hardly able to get up from his bed, he has high fever and by looking into the mirror, Wilfried had the symptoms of Tetanus. Now, it was really time to hurry up, and again he had to enter the hospital, but this time really furious, complaining at the reception the treatment two days ago, but this time it took only five mitutes, until he was received by an Indian doctor, who is listening to Wilfried’s story of the adventurous encounter in the park and how the hospital personal was refusing any medical help, Wilfried gets immediately a Tetanus vaccination and will return to Cologne two days later more dead than live, suffering for many weeks from side effects of the heavy tablets against inflammation.
So, Wilfried’s visit to Malta was ending with a real disaster, but the worst didn’t happen, yet, that Wilfried returned to Cologne in a coffin.

WOW.24 / Malta
@ 12th Video Vortex Conference – K-Spazju Kreattiv- Valletta – 26-28 September 2019

artvideoKOELN & The New Museum of Networked Art
are happy to present

WOW.24 @ 12th Video Vortex Malta
Valletta – 26-28 September 2019
http://networkcultures.org/videovortex/video-vortex-12/

WOW Malta

In Troubled Waters – curated by Wilfried Agricola de Cologne
Hdys (USA) – We The People, 2018, 3:51
Angelina Voskopoulou (Greece) – Blind Traveller, 2018, 1:27
Paolo Bandinu (Italy) – No Country, 2015, 2: 21
Abe Abraham (USA) – Salt Water, 2017, 5:52
Fu LE (France) – Mass, 2019, 10:00
Cigdem Slankard (Turkey/USA) – Fresh Start, 2017, 12:50
Sonia Guggisberg (Brazil) – Skaramanga Camp, 2017, 9:00
Mathilde Babo (France) – After The Spring, 2016, 4:00
Anna Faroqhi & Haim Peretz (Germany) – Lichtenberg Cleans Up, 2016, 4:34
Alessandro Inglima (Italy) – Breathe, 2014, 2:41

Video Vortex XII & WOW.24 @ K-Spazju Kreattiv in Valletta/Malta