Catalogue > At random

The magical-realist camera follows the trials and encounters of Jonathan as he attempts to fulfill his mother’s final wish: that her ashes be laid to rest at Alexanderplatz, Berlin. Carrying her blue urn and searching for a suitable location, he attempts to gain permission, assistance, and sometimes merely empathy from his fellow citizens. From bridges to construction sites, electronics megastores to public fountains, encountering a nun, an artist, and various figures he traces circles around the concrete epicenter of the busy metropolis, revealing a place where commerce, branding, bustle, and tourism overshadow historical landmarks and personal relations. The private pathos of a son mourning his mother encounters the cold and normalized absurdity of hypercapitalism, history, and everyday city life.

Ulu Braun (1976) lives in Berlin and Lieksa. Between 1996 - 2005 he studied painting and film in Vienna, Helsinki, and Berlin. He has been using the medium of video to explore the field between the visual arts and auteur cinema since 1997 and he is one of the key figures who have transferred painting into video art. His works are regularly shown at film festivals and exhibited in art institutions.