“Schatten & Licht” | “Shadow & Light”

A short film by Marlen Schachinger in cooperation with Paolo Vivian

Introduction

Since the first COVID-19 lockdown in March 2020, we have been confronted with many questions, such as: To what extent is art relevant? Is it a minority interest that only artists and art lovers miss? Is it right that art is pushed into the shadows during such a challenging time? Or is it an aliment, a lighthouse in the night, a stimulus for thoughts? Does art give us the strength to survive difficult times like these? And regardless of  the present conditions: where and under which conditions does it thrive? How is this changing in our digitalized world? But above all, which forward-looking opportunities does it open up if we don’t stay passive, but act energetically?

The “Shadow & Light” project

The writer Marlen Schachinger explores these and other questions in her film project “Schatten & Licht” (“Shadow & Light”), sponsored by the Austrian Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs as part of the “International Literary Dialogues”, together with the Italian sculptor Paolo Vivian. Their joint work did not begin with hours of online meetings, but rather the two sent each other a photo every day for a month, accompanied by a brief description of their feelings about the current situation. In the next step, the wider public – readers, museum visitors, concert listeners etc. – were invited to join the dialogue via online talks.

The prose text “The Beauty of the World” (by Marlen Schachinger) and the film “Chi sono/Io sono” (by Paolo Vivian)were created on the basis of these joint reflections. All parts of the project form a unity in the film and enter into dialogue with each other.

Biographies

Marlen Schachinger was born in Upper Austria in 1970. She lives and works as a freelance writer in Lower Austria and Vienna and publishes prose, poetry and essays in national and international literary journals. Artistic direct

or of the “Institute for Narrative Art Lower Austria”, lectures there as well as at the “University of Vienna/Department for Comparative Literary Studies”. Many literary prizes and scholarships, most recently: 2021 Magdeburger Stadtschreiberin. Numerous publications since 2000, inter alia: “Arbeit statt Almosen“ (Doku, UA 11.10.2020), “Fragmente: die Zeit danach“ (2020, Promedia Verlag).

Paolo Vivian, sculptor born in 1962 in Serso

Pergine, Italy. Over 17 solo and group exhibitions both in Italy and abroad since 1985. Lives and works in Pal’u del Fersina, Trento, Italy. His monumental sculptures can be found in Austria, the Netherlands, Luxemburg, Germany, Poland,  Norway, France, Bulgaria and the Czech Republic. Former artistic director of the “Van Spitz International Symposium for Stone and Wood Sculptures”. Participation in numerous international symposiums and exhibitions.