LIFE IS A KILLER

Hanno Baethe + Zaki Omar
Berlin - London - New York 
1997 - 1998

In 1997, a close friend of Hanno and Zaki, Thomas Marquard, asked if they would like to make a video portrait of the New York performer-poet John Giorno. They were keen, but following the "Berliner sehen" experience, where they started to work with video in a hypermedia context, wanted to see if they could make something interactive. The project coincided well with Zaki's one year with Middlesex University's Masters of Arts Design in Interactive Media programme. They also managed to persuade the media funding board of the German Federal State of Lower Saxony to back the project, which was quite an accomplishment as such bodies were not used to, at that time, supporting unconventional media formats.



 











German language sites: Nordmedia Funding Board
Expo 2000 

English and German sites:
Archiv Filmbüro

STAY BACK
Zaki Omar + Hanno Baethe 
Potsdam - Braunschweig - Berlin
1999

Zurückbleiben (Stay Back) is an interactive three channel (screen) video installation. It is a reflection on urban life in the digital age. It is about time and speed. Space and place. Stay Back is an audiovisual collage which three people can put together whichever way they wish. Together they determine the look and feel of the audiovisual experience.

Each of the three players has a collection of video clips, sounds and texts from which to choose. The interface is the computer keyboard. Interaction is kept very simple. All they need to do is press the designated keys, which activates or deactivates the media. Video can also be paused and played. The computers are, however, not networked. The communication takes place on a purely human level. Each computer is connected to a projector.Together, the three players create a seamless three screen projection.

2001: 100 years BVG (Berlin public transport company) exhibition in Berlin's Potsdamer Platz unused underground station.

2001: 100 years BVG (Berlin public transport company) exhibition in Berlin's Potsdamer Platz unused underground station.

2001: 100 years BVG (Berlin public transport company) exhibition in Berlin's Potsdamer Platz unused underground station.