Tempelhof Tks 5 & 7

Founded in 2003, the Rufus Corporation is comprised of a group of collaborating artists, dancers, actors, and musicians who create videos, photographs, and performances under the direction of Eve Sussman, a British-born, American filmmaker and video and installation artist. In this two-channel video piece—as in other Rufus Corporation works—Berlin’s Tempelhof Airport provides a surreal setting. The camera moves steadily and slowly, following the choreographed movements of performers waiting at the airport and crossing terminals, accompanied by an ambient soundtrack. Men in 1960s suits sit and move in precisely calibrated trajectories through the modernist scene, but when comparing the left and right screens, the perfect choreography goes awry: minute divergences build between the two perspectives, creating a subtly discordant effect. This could be read at a symbolic level, as a commentary on imperfect adjustments to the roles and repetitions required by modern life and a certain kind of masculinity. It also subtly contrasts the conventions of live theater, in which every performance is slight different from the last, and of cinema, which generally smooths out variation to create a seamless surface.