Silent Language

1986/88

Film
5:26 min
Production formats: Betacam, 1 inch, U-matic-Low-Band
Performers: Dirk Bach, Bettina Gruber
Music composition and realization for Silent Language: Brian Eno
Costume and prop: Daniela Schneider-Wesseling
Montage: Maria Vedder, Marcel Peragine
Title: Mechthild Schmidt
Production: Atelier Markgraph Frankfurt a.M.
Commissioned production: Messe Frankfurt Broadcast 86
Thanks to: Michael Peters, Rolf Engel, Meinhard Hutschenreuther, Roland Lambrette, Uwe Wiesemann, Gerhard Zillingen, Holger Gericke, Tilmann Posth, Quarzwerke Frechen

This video about the origins of broadcasting plays with the first means of communication for bridging space. “The signs were so important in some native languages that the Trapalio – like other peoples – could barely speak in the dark.”
1. The Silent Language of the Red Indians
2. The caller in the desert
3. The deceptive glow of the signs
4. The unbridgeable loneliness
5. Self-reflection as purpose and content
6. Signaling in Nowhereland