Land Shape #1

We see through the eyes of a machine: lines, rectangles, squares. A reduced world, minimal and harsh.
A documentary view of cornfields that reveals geometric shapes and describes a landscape that has been distanced from „nature“. We also see: beauty, precision, destruction.

Using bird’s-eye view, Thadeusz Tischbein examines what this visual information can tell us about the relationship between landscape and its utilization, about a machine-friendly world, about the urge to bring the world into order. This landscape is only a utility space, used for food and energy production for urban consumption. Here the harvest becomes a solvable geometric task, efficiently managed by GPS and drones. Few people are enough to completely harvest a large field in less than two hours. Then they disappear from the gray picture and create new lines, rectangles, squares.

By the way, the farmer of today works aesthetically in the landscape and generates typical forms for the Land Art, both in terms of the gigantic dimensions, as well as the materiality. In the film these only temporarily existing structures are not only documented, but further condensed into a geometric play of shapes.

– – –

All shots were taken around Schöppingen/Germany.
Here, 80% of the total cadastral area is utilized for agriculture.
Flax used to be widely cultivated, being one of the oldest cultivated plants to produce textiles.
Nowadays corn is planted in mono-cultures at most fields.
It is used to produce energy, fuel and animal food.
With a little help of machines, only 3% of all employees work in the field of agriculture.

Grants and Prizes

2020
Award Winner – KURZSUECHTIG Filmfestival. Leipzig/Germany (Best Film Experimental)

2019
Shortlist – TRANSFER Architecture Video Award 2019. Zurich/Switzerland („Land shape #1“)

Screenings and exhibitions

2021
35th FESTIVAL INTERNATIONAL DU FILM NATURE & ENVIRONNEMENT – Festival Screening. Grenoble/France
ARQUITETURAS INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL – Festival Screening. Lisbon/Portugal
PORTOBELLO FILM FESTIVAL – Festival Screening. London/UK
ELECTRIC CINEMA – Public Videoscreening. Leipzig/Germany

2020
VIDEORAMA. Werkleitz Festival 2020 – Public Videoscreening. Halle (Saale)/Germany
23° FESTIVAL CINEMAMBIENTE – Festival Screening. Turin/Italy
INTERNATIONAL KANSK VIDEO FESTIVAL – Festival Screening. Kansk and Moscow/Russia (this year as online festival)
FIDBA BUENOS AIRES INTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTARY FILM FESTIVAL – Festival Screening. Buenos Aires/Argentina
KURZFILMWANDERUNG – Festival Screening. Leipzig/Germany
20MINMAX INTERNATIONAL SHORT FILM FESTIVAL – Festival Screening. Ingolstadt/Germany
KURZSUECHTIG – Festival Screening. Leipzig/Germany
TAIPEI C̶O̶N̶TEMPORARY ART CENTER – Screening. Taipei/Taiwan(soon)
INTERNATIONALE KURZFILMWOCHE REGENSBURG – Festival Screening. Regensburg/Germany
PARTICLE + WAVE MEDIA ARTS FESTIVAL – Festival Screening. Calgary/Canada
STUTTGARTER FILMWINTER – Festival Screening. Stuttgart/Germany
BLUE2BLUE DRONE FILM FESTIVAL – Festival Screening. Avoca Beach/Sydney, Australia

2019
VIDEOSOUNDART – Video installation. Milano/Italy
FIVA 9 INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL OF VIDEO ART – Festival Screening. Buenos Aires/Argentina
BEIJING INTERNATIONAL SHORT FILM FESTIVAL (BISFF) 2019 – Festival Screening. Beijing/China
FESTIVAL INTERNACIONAL DE CINE CON MEDIOS ALTERNATIVOS FICMA – Festival Screening. Mexico City/Mexico
GREEN SCREEN. THE ENVIRONMENTAL FILM FESTIVAL – Festival Screening. Trinidad and Tobago
ULTRACINEMA – Festival Screening. Xalapa/Mexico
MINIKINO FILM WEEK 5. BALI INTERNATIONAL SHORT FILM FESTIVAL – Festival Screening. Denpasar, Bali/Indonesia
31 GIRONA FILM FESTIVAL GIFF – Festival Screening. Girona/Spain
26. OPENEYES FILMFEST – Festival Screening. Marburg/Germany
BOGOTÁ EXPERIMENTAL FILM FESTIVAL / CINEAUTOPSIA – Festival Screening. Bogotá/Colombia

Stills