Prototype
(Maastricht / Brusselsestraat 6)
Amplification of an idea – Prototype (2007) by Yves Ackermann (Switserland, 1979) bears resemblance to a delayed scene, out of context, from a bad crime movie. In a dark room, we see a man getting shot. The shots don’t come from outside, but like real films, are incorporated into his jacket. His body reacts to the ‘bullets’, hitting him left and right. Because of the exaggerated reaction of the man and the delay in the image, his movements become graceful and this shooting gains a choreographic, aesthetic charge. Prototype is a modern rendition of the dying swan, a rendition that seems inspired by contemporary ‘war games’ or a classic spaghetti western where the protagonist won’t die or fall to the ground. That Prototype turns out to be a dance, is strengthened by the fact that the man still stands, even after a two-minute bullet attack. A cowboy, even a video game hero, would have gone down.