Stefanie Schneider’s new art project
29 Palms, CA takes place in the California desert. The photographer and her actors,
all artist friends
from different art backgrounds, meet between Los Angeles and Las Vegas to work on this large-scale art
project.
Stefanie, in May you returned to Berlin from the
California desert. Since then you have been working on the postproduction of the new works you’ve brought
back. Please tell us a bit about the project …
Once a year my artist friends and
I drive to 29 Palms. We take with us some scripts and production concepts, as well as some costumes
and props. I usually have a basic idea of how I want to stage the photo sequences, which are extended
and brought to life through improvisation in cooperation with my actors. I choose the locations on-site
and then build my sets there.
As you have been telling
me, the whole project will culminate in a feature film. Are you already shooting on film?
Partly.
My medium, for which I am known as an artist, is the Polaroid photo. Per scene we produce hundreds,
sometimes over a thousand of these photos, which are then edited into a filmic sequence during postproduction.
But there will also be some 8mm and 16mm film material, which will also be integrated into the respective
scenes. Some scenes will be jumpy, some smoother. Seeing the usually static characters in real-time
movement all of a sudden is quite stunning. At the end of the project, which will span several years,
all these different scenes will result in a feature film.
Is
there a basic story idea or script everybody follows?
Of course there is a story
outline. 29 Palms, CA is about a small community in the California desert, in
which the different characters
meet. They are united through a radio show for lonely hearts, which they all listen to, and in which
they discover their own stories and fates. The story is about love, pain, loneliness, alienation and
rediscovery, the fulfillment of dreams, and the living-out of emotions. The artists who play the characters
develop them in collaboration with me and Radha Mitchell, who is writing the screenplay. Some of the
participating artists also contribute songs and music or other forms of art to the project. The development
of the project takes place via the project website and can partly be witnessed by the audience.
You
mentioned the project would span several years. How does one communicate such a long project and still
keep the level of suspense up?
As mentioned, there is the 29 Palms,
CA website,
on which many of the project development steps take place. On this site the artists communicate with
each other and to the audience. Information and various parts of the project, like music, can also be
accessed. The characters and information about them are introduced, but the artists behind the characters
are also able to present themselves and their art. In the course of project development there will be
regular broadcasts of the "Lonely Hearts" radio show. One of the attractions is that the audience
can really call into the show, in fact becoming part of the story. There will also be little commercial
jingles for our sponsors. Here, fiction and reality intermingle in a wonderful fashion. In addition,
there will be regular exhibits of the artwork from specific "chapters" of 29
Palms, CA, as
well as small book publications. Such a project offers many great possibilities.
And
who is in your team?
The team consists of several artist friends, among them Marc
Forster, Udo Kier, Radha Mitchell and Max Sharam. Of course there are also team members on the producing
side of the project. Besides our current workload in production and postproduction of the materials,
we are also the process of securing financing.
Well, good luck and
thank you for the interview.
Stefanie Schneider
is an internationally
recognized photo artist. She lives and works in Berlin and Los Angeles. The webpage of her project "29
Palms, CA" can be found under: www.twentyninepalms.ca
Polaroid
is
a trademark of the Polaroid Corporation
Link:
www.twentyninepalms.ca
