Instruction from Astrid Busch (D)

My dear artist friend Astrid Busch from Berlin sent a postcard from Le Havre in France, where she was staying and working in a residency in the summer. She sent a card with an old black-and-white photo of the sea, the waves at the port of Le Havre. Old, but timeless, magical and mystical, instantly creating dreams and ideas of how it would be to live in this city, and how it used to be...

Her instruction was the following: „My idea for the exhibition is the collaborative usage of this postcard for two works. Both of us are in a residency at the sea, two places, far away from each other, you in the South, me in the North. My task for you: Let yourself inspire by this motive, wether you find something on the beach, make a film, a photo, or something totally else, that will later be part of the final exhibition – it is up to you! My version of the work will be shown from the 16th of September at „La Forme“ in Le Havre. (...) I found this postcard in an antiquarian bookshop in Le Havre.“

Seeing the postcard, I decided to make a video, consisting of details I find in Gibraltar, on my daily ways. So: No monkeys, no impressive shots, no tourist things – but indoor and outdoor details of architecture, small movements, things I see, lights and shades, furniture, plants, animals, TV-sets in a lobby... micro-macro. I want to show this place, Gibraltar, like it could be somewhere, anywhere – fallen out of time, timeless. In a way, this will connect Gibraltar to Le Havre. I have never been there, but have some emotions and images in my mind, how it could be...The video loop will be shown at the exhibition. It will be called „Le Havre“. Here are some stills of the already taken footage.

And way below: The video.