The posthumously published work of prose Midas oder Die schwarze Leinwand (Midas or The Black Screen) by Friedrich Dürrenmatt challenges our conceptions of truth and reality with the aim of questioning our morals. In the book, Richard Green, who is on the board of directors of an investment firm that uses dishonest methods, is confronted by his advisory board with the following suggestion: in order to free the company from inherited burdens, Green could “die” from a staged suicide. He seeks help, but friends and family turn their backs on him. Escape seems pointless. Green decides on suicide—yet he hesitates at the last moment.
According to Dürrenmatt, an objective assessment of the correlations among the real events surrounding each individual is never attainable. For Hannah Dörr—a film director and video artist born and raised in Berlin, whose short film “MIDAS oder die schwarze Leinwand” (MIDAS or the Black Screen) was released in 2018—this aptly conveys the topicality of the material. In Dörr’s film, there is a fluent transition between reality and fiction. The seemingly abstracted film shots are created from stage sets made of life-size, two-dimensional paper printouts that invoke the artistic principle of trompe l’oeil. Thanks to a targeted choice of perspective along with camera and light movement, the beholder is presented with the illusion of a space that does not exist in the narrative reality.
Hannah Dörr’s “Bar Talk” will follow a screening of several of her filmic works. Afterwards, we invite you to share a glass of Țuică with us at the bar by Peles Empire.

Processes of transfer in art and an understanding of exhibition space as a site for social discourse are central themes in the concept for the exhibition “The Sky Opens Twice” by Peles Empire. In the apse of the Künstlerhaus, the Berlin artist duo is reconstructing their “bar sculpture,” which was first seen in 2017 as part of the Skulptur Projekte in Münster. It is here that the “Bar Talks” invite visitors to gather in a relaxed, summery atmosphere to speak with local and international artists about creative activity, failure, and the art scene. In this context, the Künstlerhaus becomes a platform for exploration and encounter. In an informal talk with the audience and the KM– curatorial team, artistic techniques, thematic discourses, and the reception of art will be discussed.

Hannah Dörr (*1990 Berlin, lives in Berlin) studied experimental video art at Berlin University of the Arts and film at the Academy of Media Arts Cologne. Since 2014 she has been curating the TheatralFilm series in Cologne, which she originally founded. Her own video works have been presented at Schauspiel Stuttgart, the Volksbühne Berlin, the Maxim Gorki Theater in Berlin, and HAU1 in Berlin. Dörr’s short films have also been shown by WDR and at national and international film festivals. In 2016, she was distinguished for her work by the Young Artist Prize from the State of North Rhine-Westphalia in the area of film. Her short film “MIDAS oder die schwarze Leinwand” (2018) won the Audience Award at the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen in 2019. Dörr’s documentary film “Erich und Schmitte – Entscheidend ist am Beckenrand” (2018) is presently nominated for the Grimme-Preis. Moreover, Hannah Dörr is the managing director of the video production enterprise ÖFilm, which produces motion pictures, children’s films, and documentaries.