Markus Hanakam & Roswitha Schuller

THE HERALDS

11 - 20 May 2018

curated by Clemens Wilhelm

The film "The Heralds" is set in the village of Kyrgyday, a remote place in Yakutia (Republic of Sacha), a few hundred kilometers northwest of the capital Yakutsk. At the heart of the village is the tradition of the Khomus play. The artist duo Hanakam & Schuller toured the country together with the daughters of a multi-generation family of Khomus players, shamans and singers. The climatic conditions in northern Siberia are harsh and require awareness of the surrounding nature. It is part of everyday life to find a common language with nature and make sacrifices to the pagan spirits.

The video shows the Khomus artist Albina who speaks the language of birds and horses through her instrument. It reflects a more universal concept, ideal or even a spiritual language, similar to what European alchemists and mystics searched for hundreds of years ago. In addition to this auditory performance of language, the rider of the village plays the role of a herald and carries idiosyncratic flags to the various gates of the village. Language as a grammatical and semantic system now merges into various codes, sounds and articulations.

The artifacts of the artist duo Hanakam & Schuller are often shape-shifters, alter their outer form and reappear in different contexts. As artists and researchers, they redesign the rules of the visual arts and build peculiar orders and new worlds in their videos and objects. They reflect and ironize various historical and contemporary artistic strategies as well as their means of expression. They mainly work in the field of video, interactive computer application, drawing and applied art forms.