Externsteine has been thought of as a sacred site since time immemorial. One theory is that the temple at the site is a pagan Germanic shrine that was active until 782 AD, and was subsequently used by Christian hermits during the Middle Ages. Although the pre-history of these rocks is largely unknown due to the dearth of archeological evidence found at the site, Heinrich Himmler, one of the leaders of the Nazi party, declared them to be a sacred German site. This declaration placed Externsteine in the bizarre context in which Nazi ideology and mystical, pseudo-historical theories coexist. As a result, the true history of this place has been subjected to a largely imagined narrative concerning ancient Teutonic history.
Visual language of this video work alludes both to the iconography of German Romanticism and to the cinematographic language of the Third Reich, which both depict a pre-modern world of pastoral landscapes that builds on the iconography of 17th and 18th-century German painting.
Operating on the thin line between documentary filmmaking, anthropological research, and science fiction, this work investigates the numerous intersections between myth, history, and fantasy, while probing the manner in which figments of our imagination are projected onto nature to give expression to primordial mysteries. The film presents several complementary points of view: on the one hand, it includes documentary interviews with members of the different groups that visit the site, public functionaries that testify against Nazi activities at the site, historians, archeologists, and others. At the same time, this work creates a poetic, semi-imaginary encounter between the viewer, the landscape, and the people who frequent it, while weaving together the archaic practices of contemporary cult members (based in part on Teutonic, pagan, and Germanic traditions) and a vision concerning the utopian communities of the future.
This film was made during the celebrations of the Night of the Witches (a pagan ritual) and summer solstice, and consists of a combination of documentary footage and staged scenes – including a Nazi-Yoga session based on ancient Runes and ceremonial events with the participation of extras; some of these scenes make reference to Kenneth Anger’s Lucifer Rising (1970-1982), which was also filmed at Externsteine.
This film examines how secular, rationalist culture denies the tremendous contemporary appeal of mythical, irrational beliefs, nationalist revival movements and fundamentalist ideologies, and reveals the inability of this culture to explain the allure of such ideas. The film also examines how archeology speaks to a nation’s deepest collective emotions, and the role it plays in the formation of a country’s spiritual capital. It asks whether a site’s emotional value can prove more important than its historical value, and explores the ambivalent position of monuments whose social meaning derives from their public perception. In doing so, it powerfully demonstrates how easily history can collapse into fantasy.
Is it possible to take myth seriously on its own terms, and to respect its inner coherence and complexity, without becoming morally blinded by its poetic power? How much myth is good for us? Can we, as a society, develop a “constructive” approach to myth? These are some of the questions explored in this film.
The video was produced with the help of Herzliya Museum of Contemporary Art and the support of the Fund for Video-Art and Experimental Cinema of the Center for Contemporary Art (CCA) and Bambi Foundation.
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