M HKA Ensembles

Video, 00:14:00.

Collection: Collectie M HKA, Antwerp / Collectie Vlaamse Gemeenschap.

Peter Wächtler links pop culture, bestsellers, slapstick and blockbusters to a sincere concern for the fragility of daily life. He makes works that fluctuate between the real and the bizarre. He tells stories in a number of different media: film, text, ceramics, sculptures, charcoal and pen and sound. The animation Untitled (Rat) recalls typical cartoons and slapstick moments. The main character is a rat wearing a jacket. The rat is struggling against a bowling ball, which keeps falling on his head. In addition to these images the artist recites prose filled with personal meaning (which may or may not have taken place). Each verse tells a memory, an anecdote, a scenario: ‘How I woke up, after a long night of drinking with a bad actor, who told me he had almost worked with Brad […] ‘How I cheated for the first time… and felt deeply ashamed’. Nonsense (the slapstick moments which are repeated over and over in the images) and scenes from daily, intimate life (in the prose) are combined, creating a melancholy and loaded result.