Rob Crosse Portfolio 2021
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Rob Crosse Portfolio 2021
Statement
Through video, photography and performance I explore different value
systems for comparing processes of care with aging, to show the
complexities involved in maintaining, restoring and preserving
intergenerational relationships.
'Crosse's interest in the world is directed primarily at the group activities that
elderly people organize to support and sustain one another. Whether
focusing on volunteer railway signalmen, Hong Kong songbird owners,
Nebraskan mall walkers, or gay vacationers, his audiovisual work highlights
the specifics of different hobbies and leisure activities in relation to the
sustenance of the individuals and groups who engage in them'
Marc Siegel, Vertr.-Professor für Filmwissenschaft,
Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz
'Intergenerational relationships and mutual care form central themes in Rob
Crosse's videos, photographs and performances. Crosse's subjects include
older gay men and the support structures that surround them in spaces of
work and recreation. By questioning the connections between aging and
desirability, Crosse addresses topics that are often absent from public view.'
Isabel Parkes, Berlin Program for Artists
Baumstütze (I) (2020), Archival Pigment Print
Installation View: Museum Angewandte Kunst Baumstütze (II) (2020), Archival Pigment Print, Natural Maple Frame Baumstütze (I) (2020), Archival Pigment Print, White Maple Frame
Dear Samuel (2019) HD Video Duration: 9 minutes 30 seconds 'I‘ll take care of you. I’ll support your arm when you cross the street, collect post from the floor and empty the bins. Sometimes you‘re too tired but I don‘t mind, I’ll listen to you breathe when you sleep hold your body and trace the lines on your skin. What have you seen? Where have these marks come from?' Rob Crosse, Dear Samuel (2020) 'For the first time in his videos, Crosse provides narration, describing a series of encounters with an older male lover. Interspersed with the account is a love song in which the narrator commits himself to caring for his lover through senility and death, helping him across the street, washing and changing him. The subtitles appear, karaoke-style, from left to right as if to invite the viewer's participation, but there is no music to guide us.' Patrick Langley, Writer and Editor
One day all this could be yours (part 1) (2018) Performance Duration: 11 minutes 'We're speaking over the Internet using one of the many dating websites I frequent. His profile states he is American, married, 82, a top and has a huge uncut cock. I hope he won't notice that I've stayed up all night again, wanking and chatting, wanking and chatting, wanking and chatting, wanking and chatting, wanking and chatting, wanking and chatting, wanking and chatting, wanking and chatting, wanking and chatting, to older guys on- line in the hope to meet.' Rob Crosse, One day all this could be yours (part 1) (2018) Performed inside the exhibition space at Jerwood Visual Arts as part of Solo Presentations, One day all this could be yours (part 1) (2018) examines feelings of fear and shame as a younger and older man arrange to meet in a gay sauna. A partially hidden narrator describes their sexual encounter, set to a backdrop of projected videos of Auto manufacturing processes and car racing.
During (2018) Inkjet Print Before (2018) Inkjet Print
After (2018) Inkjet Print
Prime Time (2017) HD Video Duration 20 minutes (looped) 'In Prime Time the dignity and defiance of the aged body is not expressed through anti-consumerist activity but through quiet moments of commercial leisure. The subjects of the film are members of a support group of gay men, "Prime Timers", who take a Caribbean cruise together. Crosse's film singles out individuals, couples, and groups of Prime Timers against the impersonal backdrop of a large cruise ship peopled predominantly with heterosexual vacationers. There are shots of the men frolicking in the bar and casino and on the dance floor, but it is the select intimate shots of them alone while shaving or getting dressed for the evening that truly stand out for their candid depiction of the effects of time on the aged body.' Marc Siegel, Professor für Filmwissenschaft, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz
Installation view Grundy Art Gallery: Prime Time
Installation view Grundy Art Gallery: Main exhibition space From left to right: Crown (2017) Vinyl Print, Back (2017) Giclée print on Diabond, Belly (2017) Digital Print on Soft Shell Jersey.
Clear as a bell (2016) HD Video Duration 7 minutes 30 seconds (looped) 'Clear as a bell , shot in the National Railway Museum in York, UK, follows a group of impeccably dressed older men as they navigate the levers and signals of a model railway system designed to educate trainees in block signalling, a form of communication rendered obsolete by digital technology. The men swap subtle nods and hooded glances, their quick steps and watchful gestures evocative of a wordless choreography through which unspoken - or unspeakable - desires are sublimated, circulated, distributed. The close-ups of levers and chains is anatomical in its focus, which suggests another reading: that we are inside a body just as real as those belonging to the men who tend to it.' Patrick Langley, Writer and Editor
Mall Walking (2015) HD Video Duration: 14 minutes (looped) 'Mall Walking , directed by Rob Crosse, quietly depicts the morning exercises of a group elderly residents of Omaha, USA. They’re known as mall walkers, and they attempt to keep trim by strolling around the corridors of a suburban shopping centre. Some walk alone, others chatting in groups; but they’re not consuming. Instead, they take advantage of this air- conditioned faux-public space. The contemporary mall is, of course, the liminal non-space of choice for the dystopian-butch writer of late capitalism. It has it all; the uncanny simulacra of the public, complete with market squares and fountains; the smoothing over of conflict and difficulty, from soothing piped music to privatised security apparatus; and the relentless invocation to consume, and, in doing so, to identify with consuming. The elderly mall walkers offer a disconcerting challenge to this. Within their non-commercial use of the space, they carve out a quiet moment for themselves, or for socialising, and for something human.' Huw Lemmy, Jerwood Staging Series, Slant - for the Unsettling
Der alternde Körper
{DE} In einer urkomischen Sequenz seines Films Oberfläche dieses Körpers hinterlassen hat.
Uccellacci e uccellini (Große Vögel, kleine Vögel, So berichtet der Erzähler von der Vorberei-
1966) lässt Pier Paolo Pasolini ein zwei Gene- tung auf Sex in Socken: „Meist lässt du sie
rationen umfassendes Mönchspaar Falken und an, wenn du mich fickst, aber wenn du möch-
in Bewegung
Spatzen zum Christentum bekehren. Um zu be- test, kann ich sie dir heute ausziehen. Deine
stätigen, dass die Vögel die Botschaft hinter Knie sind nicht mehr so beweglich und deine
dem albernen Zwitschern und Flattern der Knöchel geschwollen. ‚Nur wenn du sie mir
menschlichen Glaubensbrüder entschlüsselt auch wieder anziehst‘, erwiderst du: ‚Ich bin
haben, verkünden sie schließlich: „Liebe! zu alt, um da unten anzukommen.‘“ Die spär-
LIEBE!“ Die beiden Vogelarten scheinen auf liche und schnörkellose Erzählung ist mit
The Aged Body
den rechten Weg gebracht. Als die Männer Schwarzbildern unterlegt, die die Aufmerk-
kurz darauf beobachten, wie ein Falke einen samkeit der Betrachterin, des Betrachters
Spatzen attackiert, kommen sie ins Grübeln: auf die Intensität der persönlichen Enthül-
Steckt hinter der artübergreifenden Liebe lungen in der Tonspur umzulenken scheinen.
in Motion
mehr, als das Evangelium zu versprechen Vier Mal während der ungefähr neuneinhalb
scheint? Der heilige Franziskus, Auftraggeber Filmminuten wird die schwarze Bildspur
der Mönche, nimmt es locker und rät zu einer durch kurze Farbsequenzen aus einem öffent-
weiteren Runde mit den Vögeln – diesmal lichen Garten mit Aufnahmen von verschie-
mit einem vertieften Bewusstsein für soziale denen Singvögeln in Käfigen unterbrochen.
Ungleichheit und Klassenkampf. Pasolinis Diese Bilder werden von Karaoketexten be-
skurrile Fabel von der Bekehrung der Vögel gleitet, imaginären Übersetzungen dessen,
– im Film erzählt von einem linksgerichteten was die Vögel einander vielleicht vorsingen:
Raben – ist ein Lehrstück, über die Schnitt- „Ich werde für dich sorgen. / Ich werde dich
mengen christlicher und marxistischer Ideo- stützen, wenn du die Straße überquerst, / die
logie ebenso wie über die Semiotik der audio- Post vom Boden aufheben und die Mülleimer
visuellen Kommunikation. So wie die Mönche leeren. / Manchmal bist du zu müde, doch das
über Laute und Gesten mit den Vögeln zu kom- macht mir nichts aus, / ich werde dir beim
munizieren lernen, so kann sich das Filmpu- Atmen zuhören, wenn du schläfst, / deinen
blikum den Sinn oder Unsinn der audiovisuellen Körper halten und mit dem Finger die Falten
Poesie von filmischen Bildern erschließen. auf deiner Haut nachzeichnen.“ Es scheint,
Mit seinem Film Dear Samuel (2019) wen- als übernähmen die Vögel die Aufgabe des
det sich auch Rob Crosse den Lautäußerungen Erzählens, indem sie eine Ethik der Fürsorge
von Vögeln zu, um essenzielle Aussagen über betonen, die den Kern der geschilderten Liebe
die Nachhaltigkeit zwischenmenschlicher Be- des Erzählers berührt. Die Vögel treten auf,
ziehungen zu transportieren. Im Gegensatz zu um das Unaussprechliche in der generationen-
Pasolinis komödiantischer Darstellung sind übergreifenden Beziehung auszusprechen. Mit
es bei Crosse die Vögel, die eine Botschaft wei- ihrer intimen Botschaft der Fürsorge, über-
terzugeben haben. Dear Samuel ist ein Film mittelt als Karaoketext, appellieren sie auch
in Briefform, der aus der Ichperspektive die an die Filmzuschauer. Singt mit! Lasst zu, dass
sexuellen und emotionalen Besonderheiten sich dieser seltene Ausdruck der Hinwendung
einer Beziehung zwischen dem jungen Er- eines jüngeren Mannes zu seinem älteren
zähler und einem älteren Mann offenlegt. Geliebten wie ein Lieblingslied in euren Köp-
Eine Stimme aus dem Off legt sich über den fen festsetzt! „Ich werde für dich sorgen. / Ich
akustischen Hintergrund aus Gezwitscher, kann dich füttern, wenn du essen möchtest, /
Vogelgesängen und Geräuschen der Hong- tägliche Medikamente besorgen und deine
konger Großstadtkulisse. Die selektive Schil- Windeln wechseln. / Manchmal fällt dir das
derung der Beziehung zwischen den beiden Atmen schwer, / doch das macht mir nichts
Männern behandelt intime Details der be- aus, / ich werde dir zuhören, wenn du im Schlaf
wussten Anpassung eines jüngeren Mannes nach Luft ringst, / deinen Körper halten, bis
an die Bedürfnisse und Einschränkungen, du dich nicht mehr bewegst.“
die der alternde Körper seines Partners mit Die Aufnahmen der Singvögel für Dear
sich bringt, und die Begeisterung des Jünge- Samuel entstanden in Hongkongs beliebtem
ren für die Spuren, die die Zeit auf der faltigen Vogelgarten in der Yuen Po Street.1 Crosse
Marc Siegel
23verbrachte einige Zeit in der chinesischen der- auf Hintergrunddetails lenken (respek- Männer machen klar, dass manche Melan-
Metropole und traf sich mit Mitgliedern von tive umgekehrt) und einen Teil des Bilds in cholien, wie Jonathan Flatley es ausdrückt,
Gay and Grey, einer Selbsthilfegruppe für äl- leichter Unschärfe zurücklassen, sind die vi- „als genau der Mechanismus [fungieren], aus
tere schwule Männer. Zu erleben, wie diese suellen Begleiter einer vielschichtigen Ton- dem heraus man sich womöglich für die Welt
miteinander umgehen, ließ ihn das Thema spur, die zwischen klaren mechanischen Tö- interessiert“.2
Fürsorge besser verstehen – und seine Bedeu- nen und dumpfen Raumgeräuschen alterniert. Crosses Interesse an der Welt richtet sich
tung in einem Umfeld, in dem viele Organisa- Der Schnitt scheint dieser Logik von Verla- auf die Gruppenaktivitäten, die ältere Men-
tionen für ältere Menschen einer religiösen gerung und Wechsel ebenfalls zu folgen, wenn schen organisieren, um einander zu helfen und
Mission folgen und nicht besonders LGBTQ*- er dezente Körperbewegungen mit der Me- beizustehen. Egal, ob er ehrenamtlich tätige
freundlich eingestellt sind. Die Nahaufnah- chanik des Schienennetzes verknüpft. Das Signalwärter, Hongkonger Singvogelbesitzer,
men der Vögel, die in ihren Käfigen von Für- Schwenken eines Miniaturflügelsignals auf sogenannte Mall Walker in Nebraska oder
sorge singen, werden zu wirkmächtigen An- Halt scheint zu bewirken, dass einer der Män- schwule Urlauber in den Mittelpunkt stellt,
spielungen auf die prekäre Lage, der sich ei- ner plötzlich den Kopf zur Seite wendet, wäh- hebt sein audiovisuelles Werk die Besonder-
nige dieser älteren Männer ausgesetzt sehen. rend eine kleine mechanische Bewegung mit heiten verschiedener Freizeitbeschäftigungen
Eine vielseitige Annäherung an das Thema treiben, helfen einige weitere Naheinstellun- den sich langsam drehenden Händen eines im Hinblick auf das Wohlergehen der Perso-
Fürsorge, die eine gemeinsame Ausrichtung gen, ihr Tun zu verorten: eine Kette, die hör- anderen Mannes harmoniert. Clear as a Bell nen hervor, von denen sie ausgeübt werden.
und Konzentration erfordern, kennzeichnet bar einrastet, während sie durch eine Minia- ist jedoch kein künstlerischer Versuch über Wie in Clear as a Bell treten freiwillige und
Crosses Arbeit. Während Dear Samuel sich turrolle gleitet; eine Hand, die an einer me- die Vernetzung von Mensch und Maschine. unfreiwillige Bewegungen des gealterten
abheben mag, weil darin das homosexuelle chanischen Hebelbank nummerierte Stell- Dafür geht es Crosse viel zu sehr um die Körpers immer wieder in den Vordergrund.
Verlangen nach älteren Männern besonders hebel umlegt; eine andere Hand, die ein Stell- Männer selbst, ihre Hingabe und die Vertraut- Niemals Respektlosigkeit vermittelnd, rückt
deutlich zum Ausdruck kommt, spiegelt und werk antippt. Dieses Männerritual der ver- heit ihrer wechselseitigen Verständigung über Crosses intime Kamera hautnah an die Prota-
erotisiert der Film lediglich die wahrhaft au- schlüsselten Kommunikation über Drahtseile, den mechanischen Umweg eines Eisenbahn- gonisten heran – mit einer Begeisterung für
ßergewöhnliche Offenheit und Achtsamkeit Hebel, Knöpfe und Glocken ist eine Demons- signalsystems. Die meisten Einstellungen die Geschichte, die sich in die Falten, die Fle-
des Filmemachers gegenüber den Körpern, tration des Blocksignalsystems auf der ältes- des Films zeigen die Männer, wie sie schauen, cken und das hängende Fleisch eines Körpers
Bewegungen und Aktivitäten älterer Men- ten in Betrieb befindlichen Modellbahnanlage warten, zuhören, ihre Hände ausruhen, sich auf dem Höhepunkt des Lebens eingeschrie-
schen, durch die sich nicht nur Videos wie der Welt, die im National Railway Museum konzentrieren oder langsam hin und her ge- ben hat. „Woher kommen diese Spuren?“, stim-
Mall Walking (2015), Clear as a Bell (2016) und der englischen Stadt York steht. Etwa sechs hen. Der gewissen Melancholie dieser Bilder men die Singvögel an.
Prime Time (2017), sondern auch eine Reihe Monate lang besuchte Crosse regelmäßig das von gealterten Körpern, welche sich mit gro- Dieses künstlerische Interesse an der Ent-
von Crosses Fotografien, Installationen und Museum, sah sich Vorführungen der Anlage ßer Ernsthaftigkeit und Überzeugung den Be- wicklung eines audiovisuellen Vokabulars, das
2Jonathan Flatley,
Performances auszeichnen. an und belegte Abendkurse zum Einsatz von Affective Mapping. sonderheiten altertümlicher Maschinen wid- geeignet ist, die Auswirkungen von Aktivität
Die Glocken in Clear as a Bell sind zum Blocksignalen, um mehr über die Geschichte Melancholia and the men, kann man nicht entkommen. Crosses und Zeit auf den Körper zu dokumentieren,
Politics of Modernism,
Auftakt deutlich zu vernehmen, doch der dieses Systems zu erfahren, das im 19. Jahr- Cambridge (MA)/ audiovisuelle Darstellung dieser Melancholie lässt sich bis zu Crosses frühem Kurzfilm
Grund für ihr Erklingen bleibt rätselhaft. hundert einen gefahrlosen und effizienten London 2008, S. 1. und seine Anteilnahme an den Interessen der Team Roedale (2012) zurückverfolgen. Der
Der Film beginnt mit einer Nahaufnahme Bahnbetrieb sicherstellen sollte. Bei den
des in langsamer Kamerafahrt von der Seite Schauspielern, die in seinem Film auftreten,
eingefangenen Gesichts eines älteren Unifor- handelt es sich um dieselben Freiwilligen –
mierten, der neugierig eine vor ihm stehende, Eisenbahnfans und ehemalige Signalwärter
ebenso antiquierte wie nicht identifizierbare –, die im Museum die wöchentlichen Vorfüh-
mechanische Vorrichtung betrachtet. Nach- rungen bestreiten.
einander ertönen mehrere Tischglocken zu Während Clear as a Bell einen Einblick in
einer schnellen Abfolge von Naheinstellungen die Funktionsweise des Blocksignalsystems
– eine goldene Glocke; eine runzelige Männer- vermittelt und Begeisterung für die Maschi-
hand, die in Erwiderung eine weitere Glocke nen und Apparaturen im National Railway
anschlägt; das Gesicht eines weiteren älteren Museum weckt, geht sein Reiz weit über die-
Mannes. Es herrscht gedämpfte Stille, als ein sen dokumentarischen Aspekt hinaus. Ganz
dritter Mann – in extremer Nahsicht von vorn ohne Dialoge oder erklärende Texte setzt der
gefilmt – unwillkürlich mit der Zunge seine Film fast ausschließlich auf Detailansichten
Lippen befeuchtet. Er ist so intensiv auf ein der Körper seiner Darsteller, während diese
Geschehen vor seinen Augen konzentriert, die Geräte bedienen oder auf ein Signal war-
dass sein Körper sich selbst überlassen bleibt. ten, sowie auf Großaufnahmen der Bahnan- 1 Der imaginäre Adres-
Falls noch immer unklar ist, was diese alten lage und der verschiedenen Bauteile ihrer sat des Films ist Samuel
R. Delany, ein für Crosse
Männer in ihren schwarzen Westen, weißen Steuervorrichtung. Die häufigen Schärfen- sehr wichtiger Schrift-
Hemden, Krawatten und schwarzen Hosen verlagerungen, die das Augenmerk von Vor- steller.
24ungefähr dreieinhalb Minuten lange Film be- schaftlichen Aktivität herauszulösen, um die sieht ausgelassene Männer an der Bar, im
ginnt mit einer tonlosen Großaufnahme vom Effekte von Zeit, Bewegung und konzent- Kasino und auf der Tanzfläche, doch erst die
Hals und Hinterkopf eines Mannes, der den riertem Fokus besser beobachten zu können. intimen Einstellungen, die sie allein beim
Kopf in relativ schneller Folge mehrmals von In den Filmen Mall Walking und Prime Rasieren oder beim Zurechtmachen für den
links nach rechts schwingt. Versucht der Ge- Time setzt Crosse diese Strategie lückenlos Abend zeigen, stechen mit ihrer schonungs-
filmte auf kunstvolle Weise einen steifen Na- um. Beide locken mit Bildern von gealterten losen Darstellung der körperlichen Folgen
cken zu lösen? Ein abrupter Schnitt und ein Körpern in Bewegung, oft herausgehoben aus des Alterns wirklich heraus. So wie die Bilder
lautes, zischendes Geräusch schrecken Auge der kollektiven Betätigung, die sie zusammen- der Männer in den öffentlichen Bereichen des
und Ohr auf, während wir in Großeinstellung gebracht hat. Während eines Residenzaufent- Schiffs die gegenseitige Fürsorge und Anteil-
von schräg hinten den Schultergürtel eines halts am Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts nahme dokumentieren (ein Paar beschließt,
anderen Mannes sehen, der die gleichen Kopf- in Omaha, Nebraska, nutzte Crosse seine Be- sich unter die tanzende Menge zu mischen;
bewegungen vollführt. Wahrscheinlich ist eine geisterung für die Kultur des Mall Walking: ein Mann gibt einem anderen Tipps zur Nut-
Gruppenaktivität der Grund für diese merk- Einzelpersonen und kleine Gruppen älterer zung des Wellnessangebots), so machen die
würdigen Bewegungsabläufe. Aufnahmen von Menschen fahren frühmorgens in eine Shop- langsamen Schwenks über den nackten Ober-
wackelnden Ellbogenrückseiten, drei neben- ping-Mall, wo sie sich mit Walking fit halten körper eines Mannes, der auf Deck schwei-
einander stehende Männer mit nach vorn an- und Kontakte pflegen. Die ebenen, sauberen gend liest, Crosses achtsames Verständnis
gewinkelten Unterarmen in Rückansicht, die Fußböden, Klimaanlagen, zahlreichen Plätze und seine Wertschätzung für den alten und
kleine, ruckartige Bewegungen ausführen, zum Ausruhen und barrierefreien Toiletten verfallenden männlichen Körper deutlich. Das
paaren sich mit dem inzwischen vertrauten, der Einkaufszentren bieten den Bewegungs- Interesse seiner Kamera gilt weniger der Tä-
von einer schnell vorüberzischenden Geräusch- suchenden ein willkommenes und sicheres tigkeit des Manns als der durch sie ermöglich-
quelle ausgelösten Dopplereffekt. Nachdem Ambiente. Während Gesundheitsorganisati- ten Sichtbarkeit und Haltung dessen Körpers.
drei formell komponierte Aufnahmen von onen entstanden sind, um die Walkerinnen und Praktisch niemals zuvor hat man Bilder von
farbigen Linien auf einer Modellautorenn- Walker zu unterstützen, war es die Selbstor- schwuler Kultur gesehen, die so ehrlich, res-
bahn zu sehen sind, haben wir wahrschein- ganisation, die Crosse an dieser Aktivität ur- pektvoll und mit Liebe alternde Männer und
lich längst erkannt, was die ungewöhnlichen sprünglich fasziniert hat. Ohne Kommentar ihre Körper in den Fokus rücken: Falten auf
Bewegungen der Männer hervorruft. Crosses taucht sein Film direkt in die Aktion ein, den schlaffer Haut, dichte graue Brustbehaarung,
Film über einen britischen Slotracing-Verein Walkerinnen und Walkern überwiegend mit hängende Männerbrüste, Schwabbelbäuche
porträtiert flüchtig die Rennbahn und das Einstellungen von hinten folgend, um die sport- in kurzen Hosen. Das sind die Spuren der Zeit
Klubheim, konzentriert sich im Übrigen je- liche Betätigung zu dokumentieren. Gesprächs- auf einem Körper. „Warum kannst du nicht
doch auf die oft synchronisierten Körperbe- fetzen und die Mall-Musik im Hintergrund erkennen, woher diese Spuren kommen?“,
wegungen der aus allen Altersgruppen stam- begleiten die bedächtige, ausdauernde Bewe- pfeift der Singvogel. Crosses audiovisuelles
menden Teilnehmerinnen und Teilnehmer. gung der älteren Walkerinnen und Walkern Werk schnüffelt nicht in ihrer Geschichte
Wie in Clear as a Bell fangen Großaufnahmen durch leere Food Courts und vorbei an nicht herum, sondern weckt unsere Offenheit und
die Details des Ereignisses ein: die Konzent- geöffneten Geschäften. Vor allem diese nicht- Achtsamkeit gegenüber den Körpern, die
ration im Gesicht eines Einzelnen; eine Hand, kommerzielle Eigenart der Tätigkeit manifes- diese Spuren tragen.
die auf dem Streckenrand ruht; die körperliche tiert sich in Crosses würdevollen Bildern der
Nähe der Rennteilnehmerinnen und -teilneh- Seniorinnen und Senioren, die in aller Stille
mer beim Zucken, Schwanken und Ruckeln. und Entschlossenheit Orte des Konsums für
Das größte Faszinosum aber ist der hin- und ihr eigenes körperliches und soziales Wohl-
herschwingende, gefilmte Hinterkopf, der die befinden beanspruchen.
über den Rundkurs rasenden Autos verfolgt. In Prime Time drücken sich die Würde und
Der Film endet in ergreifender Stille mit einer Unbeugsamkeit des gealterten Körpers nicht
Abfolge von vier Rückansichten solcher Köpfe durch antikonsumistisches Handeln, sondern
in rhythmischer Bewegung. Ob synchron mit in den stillen Momenten einer kommerziellen
den anderen oder in seinem eigenen Tempo, Freizeitbeschäftigung aus. Die Protagonisten
tritt der schwingende Kopf als symbolisches des Films sind Mitglieder der Prime Timers,
wie mysteriöses Bild für den in die Gruppen- einer Selbsthilfegruppe schwuler Männer, die
aktivität des Modellautorennens vertieften gemeinsam eine Karibikkreuzfahrt machen.
Körper in Erscheinung. Obendrein ist dieses Dem unpersönlichen Hintergrund eines gro-
Bild eine Art filmisches Markenzeichen, das ßen Kreuzfahrtschiffs, das hauptsächlich von
die Ästhetik der Videoarbeiten von Rob Crosse heterosexuellen Urlaubern bevölkert wird,
in weiten Teilen prägt: Es veranschaulicht setzt Crosse einzelne Mitglieder, Paare und
seine Strategie, den Körper aus einer gemein- Gruppen der Prime Timers entgegen. Man
26 27In a hilarious section of the film Uccellacci e tion of monks proselytizing to birds, it’s the {EN} these elderly men. A multifaceted approach
uccellini (Hawks and Sparrows, 1966), Pier birds in Crosse’s film that are the ones with a to the subject of care and to its expression
Paolo Pasolini sets an intergenerational cou- message to share. Dear Samuel is a film in through social activities requiring shared fo-
ple of friars on the path of converting hawks the form of a letter that reveals through first- cus and concentration is a distinguishing fea-
and sparrows to Christianity. Both species of person narration the sexual and emotional ture of Crosse’s work. While Dear Samuel may
birds eventually proclaim, “Love! LOVE!” in an specifics of an intergenerational relationship stand out for its explicit expression of homo-
apparent acknowledgment that they have de- between the young male narrator and an older sexual desire for older men, it merely literal-
ciphered the message communicated through man. An off-screen voiceover is set against izes and eroticizes the truly exceptional in-
the chirps and goofy fluttering of the human the acoustic backdrop of chirps and bird- terest in and attentiveness towards the bod-
believers. The birds seem to be on the right- songs, as well as location sound from the ur- ies, movements, and activities of older people
eous path. Soon thereafter, the two men wit- ban setting of Hong Kong. The selective ac- that characterizes such videos as Clear as a
ness a hawk attacking a sparrow and they’re count of the men’s relationship addresses Bell (2016), Mall Walking (2015), and Prime
forced to ponder whether there’s more to inter- intimate details about a younger man’s will- Time (2017), as well as some of Crosse’s photo-
species love than the Christian gospel would ful accommodation to the needs and limita- graphy, installation and performance work.
seem to promise. St. Francis, who gave the tions of his partner’s aging body and his fas- imagined translation of what the birds might The bells in Clear as a Bell ring out clearly
monks their mission, takes it in stride, sug- cination for the effects of time inscribed on be singing to one another. “I’ll take care of at the start of the film but the motivation for
gesting another round with the birds—this that body’s wrinkled surface. Preparing for you. / I’ll support your arm when you cross their sounding remains seductively enigmatic.
time armed with a deepened awareness of sex with socks on, for instance, the narrator the street, / collect post from the floor and The film begins in action, as a slightly moving
social inequality and class conflict. Pasolini’s recounts: “You mostly leave them on when empty the bins. / Sometimes you’re too tired camera captures an older uniformed man
whimsical fable about the conversion of the you fuck me, but today I offered to remove but I don’t mind, / I’ll listen to you breathe from the side of his face in close-up while he
birds—as recounted in the film by a left-wing them. Your knees don’t bend so easily any- when you sleep, / hold your body and trace looks inquisitively at an unidentifiable anti-
crow—is a lesson about both the possible over- more and your ankles are swollen. ‘Only if the lines on your skin.” It’s as if the birds take quated mechanical machine in front of him.
laps between Christian and Marxist ideology you put them back on,’ you say. ‘I’m too old to up the job of narration by emphasizing an A series of bell taps resonate on the sound-
and the semiotics of audiovisual communica- reach down there.’” The sparse and relatively ethics of care that goes to the heart of the track over a quick succession of close-ups: a
tion. Just as the monks learn to communicate unadorned narration is accompanied by narrator’s account of his love for an older man. gold bell, a wrinkled male hand tapping an-
with the birds through sound and gesture, so black images that seem to deflect the viewer’s The birds move in to articulate the emotion- other bell in response, another older man’s face.
too can film spectators make (non)sense out attention to the intensity of the personal reve- ally inarticulable in the film’s intergenera- This man looks concerned, as he attentively
of the audiovisual poetry of cinematic images. lations on the soundtrack. Four times through- tional relationship. Their intimate message scans his immediate surroundings while re-
With his 2019 film Dear Samuel, Rob out the approximately nine-and-a-half-minute of care, conveyed as karaoke text, is a solici- treating a step. A muffled silence prevails as
Crosse also turns to the vocalizations of birds film the black image track is interrupted 1 The imagined ad- tation to the film’s spectators as well. Sing another man, shown in extreme close-up from
in order to convey crucial information about with brief color sequences of shots of various dressee of the film is along! Let this rare expression of care from a the front, seems involuntarily to moisten his
Samuel R. Delany, a
the sustainability of interpersonal relation- songbirds in cages in a public garden. These writer of great impor-
younger man to his aged male lover stick in lips with his tongue. He’s so intensely focused
ships. Contrary to Pasolini’s comedic depic- images are accompanied by karaoke text, an tance to Crosse. your head like a favorite pop song! “I’ll take on an activity in front of him that his body is
care of you. / I can spoon-feed you when you left to its own devices. If it’s not yet clear
want to eat, / collect daily medicine and empty what these old men, clad in black vests, white
your diapers. / Sometimes you struggle to shirts, ties, and black pants, are doing, a few
breathe / but I don’t mind, / I’ll listen to you other close-ups help to localize their actions:
gasp in your sleep, / hold your body till you’re a chain clicking into place as it passes through
no longer moving.” a miniature pulley; a hand moving numbered
The shots of the songbirds in Dear Samuel levers on a mechanical lever frame; another
were taken in Hong Kong’s popular Yuen Po hand tapping a signal box with a blurred in-
Street Bird Garden.1 Crosse spent a period of formational sticker on the front of it. This
time in the city interacting with members of male ritual of coded communication through
a support group for older gay men, Gay and cables, levers, buttons, and bells is actually a
Grey. Thanks to their exchanges, he was able demonstration of block signaling on the oldest
to refine his understanding of the issue of operating model railway layout in the world,
care and its particular significance in a con- which is located at the National Railway Mu-
text where many organizations dedicated to seum in York, England. Crosse spent about six
older people have a religious mission and are months visiting the museum and attending
not particularly LGBTQ+ friendly. With that demonstrations and block signaling evening
in mind, the close-ups of delicate caged birds classes to learn about the history of this nine-
singing of care become highly suggestive of teenth-century method of ensuring safe and
the precarious situation faced by some of efficient railway operation. The actors in his
29film are actually the very volunteers—enthu- people organize to support and sustain one of the players to one another as they jerk and of consumerism for their own bodily and social
siasts and former signalmen—who perform another. Whether focusing on volunteer rail- shake. The main object of fascination, how- sustenance.
the museum’s weekly demonstrations. way signalmen, Hong Kong songbird owners, ever, is undoubtedly the swinging head, seen In Prime Time the dignity and defiance of
While Clear as a Bell certainly provides Nebraskan mall walkers, or gay vacationers, either from the side or behind, as it follows the aged body is not expressed through anti-
insight into the mechanics of block signaling his audiovisual work highlights the specifics the cars speeding around the track. The film consumerist activity but through quiet mo-
and solicits fascination for the machines and of different hobbies and leisure activities in closes poignantly in silence with a succession ments of commercial leisure. The subjects of
gadgetry in the National Railway Museum, it relation to the sustenance of the individuals of four such heads in rhythmic motion, shot the film are members of a support group of gay
has far more than such documentary appeal. and groups who engage in them. As in Clear from behind. Whether in synch with the others men, “Prime Timers,” who take a Caribbean
Without dialogue or explanatory text, the film as a Bell, voluntary and involuntary move- or moving at its own pace, the swinging head cruise together. Crosse’s film singles out indi-
relies almost entirely on detail shots of the ments of the aged body frequently come to emerges as an emblematic and enigmatic im- viduals, couples, and groups of Prime Timers
men’s bodies as they operate the equipment the fore. Never conveying disrespect, his inti- age for the body engaged in the group activity against the impersonal backdrop of a large
or wait for a signal, as well as close-ups of the mate camera approaches his subjects at close of slot car racing. Moreover, this image is a cruise ship peopled predominantly with het-
railway layout and the various mechanical range with a loving fascination for the inscrip- kind of signature shot that informs the aes- erosexual vacationers. There are shots of the
constituents of the control apparatus. The fre- tion of history in the wrinkles, spots, and thetic of much of Crosse’s video work; it exem- men frolicking in the bar and casino and on
quent rack focus shots, which shift attention hanging flesh of a body in the prime of its life. plifies his strategy of extricating the body from the dance floor, but it is the select intimate
from foreground to background details (and “Where have these marks come from?” the a specific collective activity so as to observe shots of them alone while shaving or getting
vice versa) and leave part of the image in a songbirds sing. better the effects of time, movement, and dressed for the evening that truly stand out
slight blur, are perfect visual accompaniments This artistic interest in constructing an concentrated focus on its surface. for their candid depiction of the effects of
to a multilayered soundtrack that alternates audiovisual language suitable for documen- This strategy is fully realized in the films time on the aged body. If the images of the men
between crisp mechanical sounds and muffled ting the effects of activity and time on the ag- Mall Walking and Prime Time, each of which in the ship’s more public spaces document the
room noise. The editing also seems to follow ing body can be traced back to Crosse’s early lures with images of aged bodies in motion care and concern they share for one another
this logic of shifts and alternations as it links short film Team Roedale (2012). The approx- that are often singled out from the collective, (a couple decides to join the crowd on the
subtle bodily movement with the mechanics imately three-and-a-half-minute film begins social activity that brought them together. dance floor, one man offers another tips for
of the railway system. The lowering of a minia- with a twenty-second, silent close-up of the During a 2015 residency at the Bemis Center taking advantage of the spa services), the
ture semaphore stop signal seems to bring back of a man’s head and neck as he swings for Contemporary Arts in Omaha, Nebraska, slow pans down and up a man’s bare chest
about a man’s sudden turn of the head, while his head from left to right and back again in Crosse capitalized on a fascination for the cul- while he reads silently on the deck make ex-
a slight mechanical movement synchs up with relatively quick succession. Is the man engag- ture of mall walking. Individuals and small plicit Crosse’s care for and appreciation of the
another man’s slowly turning hands. Clear as ing in an elaborate attempt to loosen a stiff groups of elderly people drive to a shopping aged and weathered male body. His camera is
a Bell is not, however, another artistic treatise neck? An abrupt cut shocks with a loud, whizz- mall in the early morning where they exer- less interested in the man’s activity than in
on the interconnectedness of man and ma- ing sound as we see another man, shot in cise and socialize by walking around the mall. the visibility and posture of his body enabled
chine. Crosse is far too concerned with the men close-up at an oblique angle along the back The flat, clean surfaces, air conditioning, nu- by it. It’s practically unprecedented to see im-
themselves, their dedication to this shared shoulder, making the same head motions. It’s merous places to rest, and accessible toilets ages of gay male culture that so honestly, re-
activity and, perhaps most significantly, the likely that some group activity is the cause of provide a welcome and safe atmosphere for the spectfully, and lovingly bring aging men and
intimacy of their mutual communication as these strange bodily movements. Shots of jig- aged exercisers. While caregiving and health their bodies into focus: wrinkles on sagging
mediated through the mechanics of a railway gling backs of elbows, a row of three men cap- organizations have emerged to support the skin, overgrown grey chest hair, hanging male
block signaling system. Most of the shots in tured from behind as they make slight jerk- walkers, the self-organized nature of the ac- breasts, flabby bellies tucked into shorts. Such
the film capture the men as they look, wait, ing movements with their bent arms in front tivity is what initially attracted Crosse to it. are the marks of time on a body. “Why can’t you
listen, rest their hands, concentrate, or slowly of them, and other detail shots of the backs of His film abstains from commentary and con- see where these marks have come from?” the
walk to and fro. Being attentive to the move- shoulders and bent arms are scored to the textualization and simply plunges directly into songbird sings. Crosse’s audiovisual work does
ments of the machine enables their attune- same Doppler effect of a quick whizzing sound. the activity of walking, with a predominance not pry into the history of these marks but
ment to one another. There’s no escaping a About one minute into the film, when we see of shots from behind individual, pairs, or trios rather solicits our interest in and care for the
certain kind of melancholy in these images of three formally composed shots of painted of walkers that follow and document their ac- bodies that bear them.
aged bodies attending with great serious- lines on a slot car race track, we’ve likely al- tions. Snippets of conversations and location
ness and conviction to the particularities of ready discerned what unites these men and sound of mall music accompanies the slow,
antiquated machines. Crosse’s audiovisual ren- what causes their unusual bodily movements. persistent movement of the elderly walkers
dering of that melancholy, however, and his Crosse’s film of a British slot car racing club through empty food courts and in front of un-
palpable concern for the men’s concerns, makes fleetingly documents the track and club room, opened stores.
it clear as a bell that some melancholias, as but its focus is squarely on the frequently syn- 2Jonathan Flatley, Mall walking often takes place before most
Jonathan Flatley puts it, function “as the very chronized bodily movements of the intergen- Affective Mapping: of the stores are open to the public. It is this
Melancholia and the
mechanism through which one may be inter- erational players. As in Clear as a Bell, close- Politics of Modernism non-commercial—even anti-consumerist—
ested in the world.”2 ups pick up details of the event: the concen- (Cambridge, MA and nature of the activity that comes to the fore
London: Harvard
Crosse’s interest in the world is directed tration on an individual’s face, an aged hand University Press,
in Crosse’s dignified images of the elderly,
primarily at the group activities that elderly resting on the edge of a track, the proximity 2008), p. 1. quietly and determinedly claiming the spaces
30 31^v^v
^v
Rob Rob Crosse was awarded the 2020 Ars Viva prize for BPA//
Crosse visual art. Recent exhibitions include Bad Bodies Berlin program
(2019), Tomorrow Maybe, Eaton (HK); Solo Presentations for artists
(2018), Jerwood, London (GB); and Prime Time (2017),
Grundy, Blackpool (GB). His films have been screened
as part of Queer: Both sides Now V, Videotage, Hong
Kong; Different Ways, Lux, London; and Transactions
Rob
of desire, Institute of Contemporary Arts, London,
among others.
Patrick Patrick Langley‘s first novel, Arkady, was published in
Langley 2018; his second is forthcoming in 2021. He is an editor at
Crosse
art agenda and a contributing editor at The White Review.
BPA // Berlin program for artists is an artist-run BPA at Gropius Studios is a collaboration be-
mentoring program funded in 2016 by Angela tween BPA and Gropius Bau, combining artist studios
Bulloch, Simon Denny and Willem de Rooij. It with a series of public presentations, performances,
facilitates exchange between emerging and and talks, accompanied by a new series of individu-
experienced Berlin-based artists, through coordinat- al publications.
ed studio visits and meetings.
5. Nov – 11. Nov
BPA at Gropius Studios, BPA at Gropius Studios:
1. Oct – 31. Dec 2020
Rob Crosse, Bertrand Flanet,
Patrick
Opening hours: Doireann O’Malley,
Fri – Wed 10 – 19,
Thu 10 – 21, Tuesday closed
Langley
Gropius Bau
Niederkirchnerstraße 7
10963 Berlin
Design: Lena Rossbach, Vreni Knoedler × Studio Pandan, Edition of 200,
Copy Editor: Manon Revuelta, Editors: Boaz Levin and Anna-Lisa Scherfose
BPA // Berlin program for artists is made
possible through the support of the Senate
Poster: Photo taken in Classic Remise (2020), Courtesy
Department for Culture and Europe.
of Rob CrosseThe Sound interests: older men’s bodies, car garages, ritualized
actions and gestures, the shades, weights, and tex-
heart, and allows us access to the body’s interior.
Rather than supplying a neutral acoustic backdrop —
I thought back to the piano lesson. The power dynamic
was clear enough: my grandmother was the adult
of tures of obsolescent machines, processes of ageing
and repair. I thought back to a series of photographs
which is why I hesitate to describe them as ‘ambi-
ent’ — the soundtracks in Crosse’s videos register as
and I the child; she the master and I the student. Still,
something less consequential or definable—a recognition
Restoration included in a 2018 exhibition of his work in London.
Titled Before, During, and After, these tender close-
acoustic maps of coded spaces, in which meaning
is often transmitted wordlessly. I wondered what they
of damage, perhaps, and a will to protect—moved in
the other direction. The tension and tenderness of that
Patrick Langley ups of creased skin and white hair could be read as a revealed about the layering of history in his work, memory derives, in part, from an awareness of her
kind of score, a cadence of images through which an evident from the palimpsests of older men’s skin (liver- mortality, which complicated her authority. We were
older man’s body is appreciated and an experience spots and crinkles recalling my grandmother’s hands) following a score —one very different from the groups
I stare in fascination at my grandmother’s hands. They narrativized, alongside its preparations and afterglows. and from the places he often films at. of older men in Crosse’s films — but one just as open to
are resting on the keyboard of her piano. I sit beside His 2016 video Clear as a bell, shot in the National connection, to misinterpretation, to synchronicity and folly.
her on the stool, observing the crinkled texture of her Railway Museum in York, UK, follows a group of
Rob Crosse ‘During’, (2018), Inkjet print,
skin, the liver-spots that speckle her knuckles. Her impeccably dressed older men as they navigate the What sound does the body want to make?
Installation view, Jerwood Visual Arts,
fingers, bent by rheumatoid arthritis, splay over the black levers and signals of a model railway system designed The aged body in movement.
and white keys. This crookedness strikes me less as to educate trainees in block signalling, a form of commu- The movement of the engine?
evidence of deterioration than the product of experience, nication rendered obsolete by digital technology. The
a marker of skill. Her hands have evolved that way, I men swap subtle nods and hooded glances, their quick Crosse’s most recent video, 2019’s Dear Samuel, marks
think, after a lifetime of practice. steps and watchful gestures evocative of a wordless a departure. For the first time in his videos, Crosse
photo Anna Arca
Music has marked itself on her body in other, less choreography through which unspoken — or unspeak- provides narration, describing a series of encounters with
visible ways. Stored in her muscle-memory are count- able — desires are sublimated, circulated, distributed. an older male lover. Interspersed with the account is
less phrases, melodies, and cadences from her career a love song in which the narrator commits himself to
as a pianist, a language I can learn from but not yet caring for his lover through senility and death, helping
speak. The lesson must have been successful. I don’t him across the street, washing and changing him. The
remember much from my early childhood, but some- Crosse then mentioned that his body of new work was subtitles appear, karaoke-style, from left to right as if
times I catch myself singing that song. driven, in part, by the following inquiry: ‘What’s the to invite the viewer’s participation, but there is no music
sound of restoration?’ to guide us. How to sing in the absence of a song, a
O did you wash your father’s shirt? hymn sheet, a teacher? Or do those caged birds set
O did you scrub it clean? Shortly after our Skype conversation, I received a down- the tune?
O have you hung it on the line load link containing an audio file. Crosse had recently Rob Crosse ‘Clear as a bell’ (2016) Video still,
Commissioned by Kingsgate Projects. Supported
by the village green? visited a garage in Wedding, Berlin, observing the by Arts Council England
mechanics as they restored classic cars that were no
Earlier this year, during a Skype conversation with the longer in production. A straightforward answer to his The close-ups of levers and chains is anatomical in its
artist Rob Crosse, I remembered that song and my question presented itself. I listened to the tapestry of focus, which suggests another reading: that we are
grandmother’s hands. Crosse’s videos and performances, sounds that Crosse had captured: the sizzle of welding inside a body just as real as those belonging to the men
which focus on older individuals and groups to explore torches, the clack-clack of hammers, the silvery tinkle who tend to it. Is this what restoration sounds like?
duties of care, secular rituals, and intergenerational of bolts being dropped to the floor, the nasal fury of an Not the desire to fix what has been damaged, but to Rob Crosse ‘Dear Samuel’ (2019), Video still,
Produced on a residency with Eaton HK.
desire, felt especially relevant in the midst of a pandemic angle-grinder. Restoration, in this case, sounded like a preserve and appreciate an otherwise obsolete organ- Supported by videoclub and Videotage
in which elderly people — my grandmother, now ninety, form of industrial surgery: a skilful dis- and reassembly ism? To keep something alive? That the soundtrack lacks
among them — were especially at risk. We spoke about of a body’s constituent parts. overdubbed or scripted speech — direct expression
the ambiguities of intergenerational relationships, I wondered whether these sounds — which haven’t of that which lies beneath the surface of the chimes, Each solitary note feels like a call for me to join you.
whether framed by familial, social, or sexual contexts, changed in the last century or more — were articulating clicks, switches, and whirs of the soundtrack — may But I don’t know this song, so I wait and listen.
or (as is most often and accurately the case) a com- how meaning is communicated in Crosse’s work. As be a matter of survival.
bination of all at once. We discussed the different mean- the recordings demonstrate, sound pays less heed to (August, 2020)
ings of the word ‘score’: a mark, a record, a scar, a boundaries than sight. It moves through walls, skin, ‘Shhh! Keep your voice down,’ whispering into my Quotations:
tune — a tempo to try to keep step with. windows; it ricochets past corners and through history. ear as you penetrate me. ‘The workmen outside 1. Traditional, date unknown, anonymous.
2. From Dear Samuel, 2019, by Rob Crosse.
Crosse and I moved on to his development of new In a medical context, auscultation is the diagnostic might hear us.’ 3. From untitled notebooks, 2020, by Rob Crosse.
work, which at that time comprised a series of act of listening to internal organs, such as the lungs or 4. From Dear Samuel, 2019, by Rob Crosse.You can also read
