Mama

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“Mama” is a short video (TRT 1’ 35’’, looped) by the Austrian media artist Richard Jochum, New York 2008.

“When my father turned 60, I asked my siblings to produce a book for him as a gift. We entitled it “Our Father” and I wrote a few chapters. Being able to do so, surprised me. I was not aware of how easily words came to me about my father; some of the texts were a bit dada, others theatrical, some more analytical and although I praised him to the skies, there was criticism, too. When my mother a few years later turned 60 I could not produce anything like that at all. The relationship that I had with her, proved to be beyond words. I could not capture it, could not verbally describe it, felt way too embedded in a relationship that was “bloody” to start with: coming out of her womb.

The video that I created goes back to this observation of a visceral relationship with my mother beyond the grip of a verbal structure and language. I never was able to produce this somewhat very personal piece of video until an open call for submission intrigued me to set the idea into tape. The short movie is made to be looped, because addressing a mother and calling out for her will always escort us and keep being an indelible impulse.

P.S. If the video is shown in a space, I envision it to be displayed on an old tv-screen which is placed at the height of an imagined crib and would stand in the corner of a room. Crying out for a mother would then turn into what it was planned to be: an installation piece and not only a video."