Films by Mareike Wegener

Germany 2020, 89 min
by Carmen Losmann

Layer by layer, the episodic documentary OECONOMIA reveals how the rules of the contemporary capitalist game systematically precondition growth, deficits and concentrations of wealth. With particular shrewdness and rigor OECONOMIA articulates the more egregious aspects of capitalist economy rendered invisible by the prevalent media coverage.

Germany 2019, 30 min
by Hannes Lang

RIAFN is a cinematic journey into the soundscape of the Alps. Idiom, song, as well as calls and commands of farmers and shepherds are condensed to create a motion picture driven by local character and rhythm. Between artistic ideal and documentarian realism, the musical portrays a utopian site detached from the compulsive speed and accessibility of communication technology saturating modern life.

Germany 2011, 79 min
by Mareike Wegener

A few weeks after 9/11, an FBI agent called the Whitney Museum of American Art and asked to see a drawing on exhibit there. The piece was by Mark Lombardi. Just months earlier, the artist was found dead in his studio. Although the official cause of death was documented as a suicide, there were many doubts. Using just a pencil and a huge sheet of paper, Lombardi had created an intricate pattern of curves and arcs to illustrate the links between global finance and international terrorism. This documentary is a dense portrait of Lombardi‘s life and work that examines how art can express universal truths that are reflected in our present.

Germany 2011, 90 min
by Hannes Lang

The Alps are an ancient region of natural beauty that is changing as a result of climate change. Snow is no longer guaranteed. PEAK shows how the tourist industry is dealing with the problem. Millions are invested into massive technology to produce the perfect landscape independent from nature. High-altitude water reservoirs replace melting glaciers, excavators rip up the earth, a computer operated switch room lies deep in the mountain, pipes and cables are laid in the ground, snow machines continuesly spray artificial snow onto slopes. A neverending story taking place in the Alps, but with parallels worldwide. A theatrical masterpiece in Cinemascope.

Germany 2008
by Mareike Wegener

On June 19th, 1995, New York born artist Al Hansen died in his studio in Cologne. It wasn't unusual for Hansen to disappear, and his body lay there until some time later. He was found under his desk, smothered in what many consider trash but what he called working materials. He was 67 years old, and working on a collage made out of matchsticks. "Al Hansen – The Matchstick Traveller" portrays an artist who was everything at once: beat poet, pop artist, performer, Fluxus artist, author, porn editor, actor, composer, punk band manager - an axis for all post war movements, and still an outcast. The film looks back at his chaotic life, and examines the notion of failure. The Matchstick Traveller is a documentary collage that interweaves remarkable archival footage with the thoughts and memories of those who were there, featuring appearances by daughter Bibbe Hansen, Fluxus artists Ben Vautier, Alison Knowles, Larry Miller, Ben Patterson, Geoffrey Hendricks, the Vienna Actionist Hermann Nitsch, as well as friends and family.