Kollusion

The video work ‘Kollusion’ (Collusion) by Clemens Wittkowski characterizes the mostly unconscious interplay of different interests in forming relationships: Love, family, friendship, social, and above all the relationship with oneself. After a while, some of them become very negative, polarizing, sometimes toxic, and narcissistic. A woman stands in front of an oversized floor mirror in a bright room. The room is cool and white. She is looking at her reflection, playing with her facial expressions and her gaze. You think you can sense her emotions, her psyche, in her face, and yet she keeps a lot to herself. We listen to her as she speaks her thoughts in dialogue. Or is it a projection of what she has already said, heard, and experienced? Her voice sounds off-screen, yet sound and image are intimately intertwined. Suddenly she begins to kiss her reflection gently. She stops for a moment and continues kissing before she is finally startled by herself. The words “Kollusion. Einvernehmlich.“ (Collusion. Consensual.) are the only moment she speaks authentically in the picture, intensely dissecting her reflection. As we hear her final thoughts, she is as confident as she is vulnerable. Secure in what is. Uncertain of what is to come.