Prince of Peace
Changing reality into reality. But don´t ask me which one into which. No points, no questions. Coming closer. Loving to see.
See lovingly. Dancing. Can dancing be sad? Okay, no questions. A dead friend. (Hans Scheugl)
The entrance to a men´s toilet in an underground pedestrian passage in Vienna. Church bells are heard in the distance.
In a merciless editing rhythm, anonymous men are brought ever closer to the opaque glass door, in rhythmic stanzas they are stucked ever deeper inside the room one can´t see into. In between there are photos from a pornographic magazine, in which a tottooed Saviour is placed in a direct connection with the sexual intercourse between two men - all to the sounds of ghastly brass band music. Prince of Peace is written under the Redeemers face.
Questions: Are bells an impetus or do they represent a Catholic background? Are the refrains telling of a real, existing grey zone, or do they illustrate the imagination? Does the Prince of Peace stand for redemption from a hopeless situation, or for macho-pathos which has got under one´s skin too deep? And are the atonal streams of light and sound which emanate from the toilet door at the end repulsive or attractive?
Above and beyond this: oppressively profane, unadorned materialism, the everyday underground, cheap gloss, plain language (simply by covering up naked facts with white paper). At the end, a dedication to a dead friend. (Claus Philipp)