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  1. Public Relations / Öffentlichkeitsarbeit, Liz Magic Laser, 2013, two-channel video installation, 17 minutes, Westfälischer Kunstverein, Germany. 

  2. Laser’s two-channel video installation Public Relations / Öffentlichkeitsarbeit, which was developed on site in Münster, presents a distilled dialogue between the news media, embodied by a reporter on the scene (Elisabeth Weydt), and the public, represented by an actor in the role of the proverbial “little man” (Florian Kleine), who is deployed as the spontaneous mouthpiece of public opinion. In one video channel the everyman character derides a newscaster he is watching on TV from his seat in a café, which is actually a stage set installed in the Kunstverein. Laser’s second video channel shows the reporter, Weydt, who is a real freelance journalist at a local television station, interviewing people on the streets of Münster about their views on journalism. The script transitions between English and German; Laser wrote it in close collaboration with the writer Sofia Pontén and the protagonists of the video, as well as with the team at the Kunstverein. The dialogue is meant to be understood by speakers of both languages and simultaneously to reveal culturally specific differences between news media in the United States and Germany.

    The two video channels face each other and are incorporated into a television studio installation that borrows elements from a bar, including props such as liquor bottles and a disco ball altered to look like a globe. Laser’s hybrid newsroom-café theater set was used to film the video, and the television studio–bar served to display the video, while also placing the viewer in the news anchor’s seat. Laser’s theater-set installations and script for Public Relations / Öffentlichkeitsarbeit grew out of her consideration of the places historically used for public discourse: the café and the bar. In the exhibition at the Westfälischer Kunstverein, the stage set of the café was open for use by gallery visitors. International newspapers and various magazines updated on a daily basis were available for them to read; coffee and water were provided free of charge.

    Credits:
    Featuring actor Florian Kleine and reporter Elisabeth Weydt. Script written by Liz Magic Laser and Sofia Pontén in collaboration with Kristina Scepanski, Jenni Henke, Elisabeth Weydt and Florian Kleine. Curated by Kristina Scepanski; Curatorial Assisting by Anna Sabrina Schmid; Set Design in collaboration with Christian Kiehl; Costume Design in collaboration with Nils von Berg; Painting by Sanya Kantarovsky; Videography by Jan Enste and Gunar Peters; Audio Engineering by Jan Enste and Sven Stratmann; and Production Assistants: Malte Rommel and Clara Napp.

  3. Related Material+ Liz Magic Laser: Public Relations, Mousse Magazine , February 2015
    Liz Magic Laser: Public Relations / Öffentlichkeitsarbeit, Sternberg Press, Berlin, Germany and Westfälischer Kunstverein, Münster, Germany, September 2014
    Liz Magic Laser, Westfälischer Kunstverein, Münster, Frieze d/e, December 2013
    Künstler, die uns aufgefallen sind: Liz Magic Laser, Monopol, October 2013
    Public Theater: Liz Magic Laser at the Westfälischer Kunstverein, Münster, Texte zur Kunst, September 2013
    Die Ilusion der eigenen MeinungKontur, Summer 2013
    In Münster ist die erste wichtige Einzelausstellung der großartigen jungen Künstlerin Liz Magic Laser in Europa zu sehen, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, August 2013
    Additional German Press
    Public Relations Flyer
     Public Relations Booklet (EN/DE)

  4. Public Relations / Öffentlichkeitsarbeit (TV Set), Liz Magic Laser, 2013, 8 x 3 x 4 m, installation view, Westfälischer Kunstverein, Germany. Set Design in collaboration with Christian Kiehl. Photo: Thorsten Arendt.

    Public Relations / Öffentlichkeitsarbeit (TV Set), Liz Magic Laser, 2013, 8 x 3 x 4 m, installation view, Westfälischer Kunstverein, Germany. Set Design in collaboration with Christian Kiehl. Photo: Thorsten Arendt.

    Public Relations / Öffentlichkeitsarbeit (Café Set), Liz Magic Laser, 2013, 8 x 3 x 4 m, installation view, Westfälischer Kunstverein, Germany. Set Design in collaboration with Christian Kiehl.

    Public Relations / Öffentlichkeitsarbeit (Café Set), Liz Magic Laser, 2013, 8 x 3 x 4 m, installation view, Westfälischer Kunstverein, Germany. Set Design in collaboration with Christian Kiehl.

    Public Relations / Öffentlichkeitsarbeit (Set Models), Liz Magic Laser, 2013, 60 x 15 x 40 cm. Set Design in collaboration with Christian Kiehl. Photo: Thorsten Arendt.

    Public Relations / Öffentlichkeitsarbeit (Set Models), Liz Magic Laser, 2013, 60 x 15 x 40 cm. Set Design in collaboration with Christian Kiehl. Photo: Thorsten Arendt.

    Public Relations / Öffentlichkeitsarbeit (Set Models), Liz Magic Laser, 2013, 60 x 15 x 40 cm. Set Design in collaboration with Christian Kiehl. Photo: Thorsten Arendt.

    Public Relations / Öffentlichkeitsarbeit (Set Models), Liz Magic Laser, 2013, 60 x 15 x 40 cm. Set Design in collaboration with Christian Kiehl. Photo: Thorsten Arendt.

    Public Relations / Öffentlichkeitsarbeit (Set Models), Liz Magic Laser, 2013, 60 x 15 x 40 cm. Set Design in collaboration with Christian Kiehl. Photo: Thorsten Arendt.

    Public Relations / Öffentlichkeitsarbeit (Set Models), Liz Magic Laser, 2013, 60 x 15 x 40 cm. Set Design in collaboration with Christian Kiehl. Photo: Thorsten Arendt.

    Public Relations / Öffentlichkeitsarbeit (Set Models), Liz Magic Laser, 2013, 60 x 15 x 40 cm. Set Design in collaboration with Christian Kiehl. Photo: Thorsten Arendt.

    Public Relations / Öffentlichkeitsarbeit (Set Models), Liz Magic Laser, 2013, 60 x 15 x 40 cm. Set Design in collaboration with Christian Kiehl. Photo: Thorsten Arendt.

    Public Relations / Öffentlichkeitsarbeit (Café Set), Liz Magic Laser, 2013, 8 x 3 x 4 m, installation view, Westfälischer Kunstverein, Germany. Set Design in collaboration with Christian Kiehl. Photo: Thorsten Arendt.

    Public Relations / Öffentlichkeitsarbeit (Café Set), Liz Magic Laser, 2013, 8 x 3 x 4 m, installation view, Westfälischer Kunstverein, Germany. Set Design in collaboration with Christian Kiehl. Photo: Thorsten Arendt.

    Public Relations / Öffentlichkeitsarbeit (Disco Ball Globe), Liz Magic Laser, 2013, 51 x 51 x 51 cm, installation view, Westfälischer Kunstverein, Germany.  Photo: Thorsten Arendt.

    Public Relations / Öffentlichkeitsarbeit (Disco Ball Globe), Liz Magic Laser, 2013, 51 x 51 x 51 cm, installation view, Westfälischer Kunstverein, Germany.  Photo: Thorsten Arendt.

    Public Relations / Öffentlichkeitsarbeit (TV Set), Liz Magic Laser, 2013, 8 x 3 x 4 m, installation view, Westfälischer Kunstverein, Germany. Set Design in collaboration with Christian Kiehl. Photo: Thorsten Arendt.

    Public Relations / Öffentlichkeitsarbeit (TV Set), Liz Magic Laser, 2013, 8 x 3 x 4 m, installation view, Westfälischer Kunstverein, Germany. Set Design in collaboration with Christian Kiehl. Photo: Thorsten Arendt.

    Public Relations / Öffentlichkeitsarbeit (TV Set), Liz Magic Laser, 2013, 8 x 3 x 4 m, installation view, Westfälischer Kunstverein, Germany. Set Design in collaboration with Christian Kiehl. Photo: Thorsten Arendt.

    Public Relations / Öffentlichkeitsarbeit (TV Set), Liz Magic Laser, 2013, 8 x 3 x 4 m, installation view, Westfälischer Kunstverein, Germany. Set Design in collaboration with Christian Kiehl. Photo: Thorsten Arendt.

    Public Relations / Öffentlichkeitsarbeit, Liz Magic Laser, 2013, two-channel video installation, 17 minutes, video still. Featuring actor Florian Kleine.

    Public Relations / Öffentlichkeitsarbeit, Liz Magic Laser, 2013, two-channel video installation, 17 minutes, video still. Featuring actor Florian Kleine.

    Public Relations / Öffentlichkeitsarbeit, Liz Magic Laser, 2013, two-channel video installation, 17 minutes, video still. Featuring reporter Elisabeth Weydt.

    Public Relations / Öffentlichkeitsarbeit, Liz Magic Laser, 2013, two-channel video installation, 17 minutes, video still. Featuring reporter Elisabeth Weydt.

    Public Relations / Öffentlichkeitsarbeit, Liz Magic Laser, 2013, two-channel video installation, 17 minutes, production still. Featuring reporter Elisabeth Weydt.

    Public Relations / Öffentlichkeitsarbeit, Liz Magic Laser, 2013, two-channel video installation, 17 minutes, production still. Featuring reporter Elisabeth Weydt.

    Public Relations / Öffentlichkeitsarbeit (Costuming), Liz Magic Laser, 2013, installation view, Westfälischer Kunstverein, Germany. Costume Design in collaboration with Nils von Berg.

    Public Relations / Öffentlichkeitsarbeit (Costuming), Liz Magic Laser, 2013, installation view, Westfälischer Kunstverein, Germany. Costume Design in collaboration with Nils von Berg.

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      Public Relations / Öffentlichkeitsarbeit (TV Set), Liz Magic Laser, 2013, 8 x 3 x 4 m, installation view, Westfälischer Kunstverein, Germany. Set Design in collaboration with Christian Kiehl. Photo: Thorsten Arendt.

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      Public Relations / Öffentlichkeitsarbeit (Café Set), Liz Magic Laser, 2013, 8 x 3 x 4 m, installation view, Westfälischer Kunstverein, Germany. Set Design in collaboration with Christian Kiehl.

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      Public Relations / Öffentlichkeitsarbeit (Set Models), Liz Magic Laser, 2013, 60 x 15 x 40 cm. Set Design in collaboration with Christian Kiehl. Photo: Thorsten Arendt.

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      Public Relations / Öffentlichkeitsarbeit (Set Models), Liz Magic Laser, 2013, 60 x 15 x 40 cm. Set Design in collaboration with Christian Kiehl. Photo: Thorsten Arendt.

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      Public Relations / Öffentlichkeitsarbeit (Set Models), Liz Magic Laser, 2013, 60 x 15 x 40 cm. Set Design in collaboration with Christian Kiehl. Photo: Thorsten Arendt.

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      Public Relations / Öffentlichkeitsarbeit (Set Models), Liz Magic Laser, 2013, 60 x 15 x 40 cm. Set Design in collaboration with Christian Kiehl. Photo: Thorsten Arendt.

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      Public Relations / Öffentlichkeitsarbeit (Café Set), Liz Magic Laser, 2013, 8 x 3 x 4 m, installation view, Westfälischer Kunstverein, Germany. Set Design in collaboration with Christian Kiehl. Photo: Thorsten Arendt.

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      Public Relations / Öffentlichkeitsarbeit (Disco Ball Globe), Liz Magic Laser, 2013, 51 x 51 x 51 cm, installation view, Westfälischer Kunstverein, Germany.  Photo: Thorsten Arendt.

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      Public Relations / Öffentlichkeitsarbeit (TV Set), Liz Magic Laser, 2013, 8 x 3 x 4 m, installation view, Westfälischer Kunstverein, Germany. Set Design in collaboration with Christian Kiehl. Photo: Thorsten Arendt.

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      Public Relations / Öffentlichkeitsarbeit (TV Set), Liz Magic Laser, 2013, 8 x 3 x 4 m, installation view, Westfälischer Kunstverein, Germany. Set Design in collaboration with Christian Kiehl. Photo: Thorsten Arendt.

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      Public Relations / Öffentlichkeitsarbeit, Liz Magic Laser, 2013, two-channel video installation, 17 minutes, video still. Featuring actor Florian Kleine.

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      Public Relations / Öffentlichkeitsarbeit, Liz Magic Laser, 2013, two-channel video installation, 17 minutes, video still. Featuring reporter Elisabeth Weydt.

    • 13

      Public Relations / Öffentlichkeitsarbeit, Liz Magic Laser, 2013, two-channel video installation, 17 minutes, production still. Featuring reporter Elisabeth Weydt.

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      Public Relations / Öffentlichkeitsarbeit (Costuming), Liz Magic Laser, 2013, installation view, Westfälischer Kunstverein, Germany. Costume Design in collaboration with Nils von Berg.