G.R.A.M.’s film borrows from Charlie Chaplin’s Kid Auto Races at Venice from 1914. The artist group restages the comedy about a film director whose shoot at a soapbox derby is disturbed by a curious spectator. However, G.R.A.M. moves the setting from California to St. Oswald in western Styria, where such races really do take place every year. A cameraman with a disused, functionless ORF camera, a camera assistant and the protagonist, who is constantly pushing his way into the picture, infiltrate the events on location – prompting corresponding reactions from the uninitiated audience. Like Chaplin, G.R.A.M. lampoons the unconditional desire for self-expression.
Race across St. Oswald, 2008
G.R.A.M.
