The Venice Project

An evening with Robert Dornhelm
What is the future of art? Robert Dornhelm's THE VENICE PROJECT explores this question on two time levels: in 1699, a Venetian count seeks answers to this question and finds them – from his court jester. Three hundred years later, a contessa and her brother attempt to unravel the mystery of art with the help of a confessional... Against the backdrop of the lagoon city, Dornhelm unfolds a reflection on time and vanitas, staging a tableau of vanities in the splendour of the past at the intersection of history and the present. Little by little, the film searches for a spark of truth in a world that has long since become a performance – dazzling, empty, beguiling – and thus proves to be surprisingly contemporary almost 25 years later.
(Florian Widegger)

Followed by a stage discussion with Robert Dornhelm, moderated by Peter Fässlacher (ORF III).