How can a world-renowned painter be documented on video in the shortest of time without the tragedy of the circumstances of his life and the plethora of artwork take overhand? We asked ourselves these questions on a December day in Davos. We, that’s Cornelia Bürgi, Patrick Eisenhut, Oliver Fries and myself. As part of the course of studies CAS Digital Publisher Social Media Producer at Schweizerische Text Akademie we where comissioned to create a report.
At the core it was two aspects which lead us to the proper trail of searching for traces. The intentional decision to skip the Kirchner Museum as an information- and imagesource shifted the focus on the locations in Davos Frauenkirch. There we wanted to explore the artist and let him have an effect on us. The hiking tour compiled by Davos Tourism offered valuable information. Additionally, we scraped the intention to record our audio commentaries on location in favour of a voice-over with personal statements by Erna and Ernst Ludwig Kirchner. A detailed biography about Erna Schilling Kirchner put together by Barbara Redmann for the cultural mediation institution Kuverum acted as our source.
The shooting turned out to be relatively uncomplicated – apart from the frosty cold, which was noticeable early in the morning at the forest cemetery. In contrary to our limbs the technical gear didn’t have any objections in that sense. The sky was clear on this December 11th and so we could already capture the first delicate rays of light between the rows of trees at 8 o’clock. Kirchner’s last stay at Wildboden was surrounded by a lot of noticeable energy and positioned prominently on this little plateau with an impressive view of the opposite side of the valley of Frauenkirch. After a delicious lunch break at Gasthaus Islen we marveled at the colourful wood carvings on the school building and the over 400 years old reformed church of Davos Frauenkirch which is under monumental protection. At this point the search for traces was finished. We where astonished in what small of a radius the life of Kirchner took place.
