DIETER BEYELSCHMIDT
The Threefold Life
Vom dreyfachen Leben

1997
oak column, 3 monitors, 4:3 color video*, ext. 2-ch sound, 9sec loop

*Director · Writer · Sound : Rosy Beyelschmidt
*Writer · Sound Design · VFX · Editor : Dieter Beyelschmidt

at: Kölnisches Stadtmuseum, Cologne · 1997, Kunstverein Würzburg · 2000


The Threefold Life ... refers to a text by the mystic Jacob Böhme. One sees an old, high, turned oak column and a screen consisting of three monitors set on edge one above the other. On the screen, to a monotonous, hard rhythmic sound, the head of a horse can be seen, its bloody red tongue emerging large into the picture. The view of the dying animal is superimposed by barely discernible rapid movements of a rider on his horse, who shifts at intervals over the image of the suffering animal. The short sequence becomes a symbol of life: the rush of being driven, "ridden" of a constantly accelerating life in contrast to suffering and death, to finiteness. Next to it, the column like a powerful guardian or also as a symbol of the connection between above and below.