An interview with
Jennifer Revit Travelling is a not only a source of inspiration for you, but a fundamental aspect of your art practise. Could you introduce our readers to this fascinating concept? My work explores the notion of creating systems based on actual experience versus being cultivated vicariously through other media such as journalism, digital communication and oral traditions. I am an explorer by nature, someone who is curious about places both known and unfamiliar. At a certain point I realized that seeking out the unknown was unusual. In fact, since I started documenting my experiences and relaying them digitally, the act of gathering information through secondary sources, rather than relying on memory or stills of the experience, has increased dramatically. Capturing my perspective of a place or situation digitally is so different than the mind’s inherent inclination to edit. Rendering “experience” electronically and later working on it is both a natural and unnatural intrigue and this process changes it’s meaning entirely. The viewer may see the travel involved, in addition to my editing process of layering sound and reinterpreting the experience, through the medium of video. Could you tell us a particular episode who has helped the birth of Entschuldigung, or simply an epiphany, a sudden illumination? Berlin was a much different city my first visit there in 1992. By the time my friends and I planned to sublet a flat for several days in 2008, it had garnered a reputation for being a vivaciously creative yet affordable city. Berlin had also become a likely location for New Yorkers, such as ourselves, to relocate for opportunity, lifestyle and costs. So, in September of 2008 I revisited Berlin to see how the city had changed. I chose to spend my days gathering information with the spontaneity integral to my practice. Admittedly, it wasn't until my outings were taken on a rented bicycle that I felt the energy and potential of Berlin. This is when I felt inspired to capture my experience.
Jennifer Revit
Since that trip I have spent more time getting to know Berlin and a few years ago I chose to spend a month there to better understand the city while concurrently working on Entschuldigung. This was my third trip to Berlin in as many years so I felt comfortable and familiar enough to spend my month there living more like a Berliner and less like a tourist. Working in my temporary studio in Neukölln and revisiting the city through my earlier documentation made me realize how much of the cultural and natural sites of the city I had exhausted as a visitor in 2008. The observation and recreation of the travel industry is germane to my work, I'm drawn to the familiarity generally sought by tourism. I intentionally choose to spend time familiarizing myself with places, much like a tourist, yet seen through the lens of my medium. This approach is seen in the footage used to create Entshuldigung along with the surprises that often pop up in foreign situations such as learning that Berliners have an affection for ping pong and the amazing abandoned amusement park seen through the trees near the River Spree’s footpath.