Ufnaustraße - Marlies Pahlenberg

Ufnaustraße

Marlies Pahlenberg

2016

Ufnaustraße is a videoproject and social experiment. The artist rang different doorbells along the Ufnaustraße in Berlin and asked if she could join them on their current activity. She filmed her experiences with the help of a tripod. 

The 22 minute long movie shows the different perspectives from the same street. What do the people do here? Live with one another, or live past each other? The viewers gain insight of the parallel lives behind neighbouring doors. These are moments that usually take place behind closed doors and would never be seen by a stranger. Everyone masters their daily life. Everyone leads and completes mundane activities differently, obviously because everyone is different. Maybe because we never stop by at a strangers place, we live in our own microcosm. Suddenly everyday activities seem bizarre and then they once again seem familiar.

At the end of the video, a shared movie night is shown during which the protagonists see the film that has been created for the first time. This way they also got a chance to see their neighbours intimate lives and even a chance to meet them in person.

Marlies Pahlenberg was born 1988 in Berlin. Her works focus on human interaction and questioning the boundaries between private and public life, she searches for people in unique, often private rooms such as homes, hotels, or even cars, that are willing to interact and let her into their lives.