— The Spinning Wheel | 2002
Jos de Gruyter & Harald Thys
THE SPINNING WHEEL presents characters—Ryan, Christoffel, and Babi—who appear stiff and awkward, almost puppet-like, a quality heightened by the absurdly 'uncanny' effect of their poorly synchronised voice-overs. They come across as little more than endearing yet powerless marionettes, inhabiting a stage-like wooden interior that evokes the stifling atmosphere of a childhood steeped in the narrow-minded, oppressive world of 'la Flandre profonde.'
The narrative takes a surreal turn as Babi, endowed with telekinetic abilities, begins to exert an eerie magical influence over the lifeless objects scattered throughout this claustrophobic space. Her powers first target the clothes of the oblivious twin brothers, Christoffel and Ryan, and soon escalate into a strange and mesmerizing choreography of animated household objects. Chairs and appliances spin and move in a spellbound procession, culminating when one object lands upon the head of one of the twins, transforming him momentarily into a golem-like figure—a nod to the grotesque archetypes seen in Parallelogram.
In the brief upheaval that follows, chairs, the spinning wheel, and other seemingly inert objects momentarily rise to dominance, asserting an uncanny agency within the stale, dank microcosm of the setting. Animated and rebellious, they rise up against their petty human overseers, embodying a temporary revolt of the inanimate against the living. This unsettling 'disruption of things' marks a fleeting inversion of power, as mundane furniture and household items briefly seize the upper hand in this otherwise stifling domain.
Credits:
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Film by: Jos de Gruyter & Harald Thys
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Actors: Marianne Thys, Christoffel en Ryan de Gruyter, Erik Thys, Harald Thys, Jos de Gruyter
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Voices: Jos de Gruyter, Harald Thys
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Assistant: Jana Phlips
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Set construction: Boris Rebetez, Frederik De Wilde
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Translation and subtitles: Alice Evermore, Jana Phlips
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Production manager: Wim De Graeve
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Music: "Black is the color of my true love's hair" - anonymous, performed by A. and M. Deller; "Bourrée Anglaise" by G.F. Händel; "Acht momentopnamen van Dieren" by A. Lombaert
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Installation Middelheim: Kwinten Lavigne, Pieter Hollants, Vlad Drovikov
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Sound installation: Guy Van Den Bril, Bart Van Dessel
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Producer: Middelheim Museum Antwerpen
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Thanks to: Margot Verheusden, Vincent Van Gompel, AJC, ABC, Jelle Lamal, The Middelheim Museum staff, Maarten Loix, City mine(d), Paul Casaer, 4E, Moritz Küng
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Courtesy: the artists and Gallery Micheline Szwajcer, and GYPEX
Screenings:
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2002: Middelheim Museum, Antwerp (BE)
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2007: Carlier Gebauer, Berlin (DE)
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2010: Kunsthalle Basel (CHE)