Simon Starling: Wilhelm Noack oHG
Neuger Riemschneider, Berlin
Nov. 14 2006 – Jan. 13 2007

Reviewed by Rea Cris

Tucked away in an alley off a quiet road in Berlin is a room with Simon Starling’s new work ‘Wihelm Noack oHG’. The four-minute projection whirls in the dark on a spiral staircase, one that upon closer inspection carries the film up and around its steel frame. The image and sound are so beautifully synchronized that the viewer feels every bump, slam, grind, rattle and vibration as the camera travels through the workings of a factory.

The work’s title owes its name to the current owner of one of Berlin’s most influential and famous metal fabricators. The company’s history is impressive with connections to the Bauhaus, International Modernism, the Third Reich and the post-war boom in architecture in West Berlin. The company is still in existence and production.

Starling’s projection is a mixture of the company’s archives spanning a hundred years as well as a documentation of the fabrication of the spiral staircase, which supports the projection. It was of course built in the workshops of Wihelm Noack oHG and yet I can’t imagine it to be shown anywhere else than in Berlin. This is not because the work directly refers to a company based in Berlin, but because no other city could supply the atmosphere required for the piece. Berlin is heavy with history; it’s physically evident around the city. There is a sense of suspension in Berlin, as if it hasn’t started or finished yet. These sentiments follow a person and they are present in one’s mind when watching Starling’s projection. Berlin is a still and quiet city and the assertive noise of the factory fabrication startles one. While most projections cause the viewer to become so absorbed that they forget their surroundings, ‘Wihelm Noack oHG’ does the exact opposite. It only reinforces the surroundings and allows a platform to voice the suspicions you’ve had of Berlin all along.

www.neugerriemschneider.com