Alexander Kluge (born 14.2.1932) is one of the leading intellectual voices in Germany, carrying forward the mission of the Frankfurt School. Kluge achieved renown in the early 1960s as both a writer and a film director (“New German Cinema”). Since then, he has received all of Germany’s important prizes for literature, as well as film prizes in Venice, Cannes and Berlin, and he was invited to exhibit his work in world-leading museums. To date, Kluge has produced around 8,000 pages of stories and more than 120,000 minutes of film.
For this exhibition, Pontio is screening a small number of so called “minutes-films” and an accompanying booklet contains short stories, plus further information on Kluge. In the glass cases we display objects which mirror and explore Kluge´s work and thinking in respect to North Wales. “Lighthouses into Futurity” draws on two core motifs in Kluge´s work. “Lighthouses” are aids for orientation, particular in times of unrest or trouble, in unknown waters and close to home. At the same time, lighthouses manifest the spirit to embark into the unknown, despite all risks. By securing orientation in all circumstances, it equips us with the ability to manoeuvre, to make decisions about where to go.
But … what about its light? It moves, and it goes on and off. So a lighthouse works as both a symbol of stability and of change. In this sense, Kluge is always keen to point us to the Janus-faced nature of life.