Prop Fiction, the latest work by the Parisian video artist BRIGITTE ZIEGER was especially produced for the Stadtgalerie in Bern. Juxtaposed images of the cityscape of Paris, of unreal exotic places and of views of Switzerland create a sense of bewilderment. Pulled into the artificial world of Brigitte Zieger’s video installations, the viewer becomes voyeur.The space of the gallery is transformed into a mental playground where the banal everyday borders on the surreal.
As through a magic looking glass on the arched ceiling of the gallery, one encounters a young woman cleaning her home. The gaze follows her into the intricate pattern of her skirt and gets distracted by a daydream vision on one of the other projections. In a split second, the foam on the toilet edge turns into an image of untouched Swiss countryside before disappearing into the abyss with a flush. An old discarded straw hat transforms into a desert with the smoke of a cigarette blowing like wind, an effect dramatically enhanced by the sound track from the film classic Lawrence of Arabia. Special effects recall moments of the Hollywood dream machine, but none of the tricks are disguised. In the real or in the illusionary spaces, similar «props» taken from film resurface, constantly creating an atmosphere of uncertainty. By simple glimpses of Brigitte Zieger’s video projections, the normal dimensions of life ironically slip into the absurd and clichés often used in the media world are dismantled.