GERMANY ISSUE 259 Feb 2011

Composer and filmmaker Jo Blankenburg and visual artist Andy Fox have collaborated to produce a stunning, but disturbing audio-visual experiment entitled "OIL SPILL – THE HUMAN UEBERFLUSS".

The pair selected seven women from around the world and simply told them that they would be confronted by a liquid, which they should face open eyed and unflinching. Each woman had nine litres of a black oily liquid poured onto their faces for four seconds, captured on high-speed video.

Say the duo of the project's core premise: "We wanted to underline the metaphorical resemblance between humans and oil-soaked birds [...] What it must be like for birds that become soaked in mineral oil and perish on the beach."

The full project will premiere in association with the Berlin International Film Festival in the Urania event centre on 9 February at 7pm. It lasts until 20 February.