Out of Bounds (B), 2016

Single channel video, aspect ratio 16:9, 12 min 25 sec, HD, stereo sound
Or presented as a two-channel installation with Out of Bounds (A)

Out of Bounds (A) and (B) were filmed in the high alpine valley of Engelberg. It follows two different teams of mountain workers, people who day in and day out perform the same tasks to make the mountain safe and pleasurable. They are the hidden labour that allows the mountain industry to function. One is a team that goes up early in the mornings after a fresh snowfall to detonate controlled avalanches. The second team is a group of piste-bully drivers, working at night, flattening the snow on the mountain as if with a huge iron.

The resulting two films start with an interest in these activities, the endless repetition of these gestures, the Sisyphean tasks. However they then depart from a direct or documentary observation and representation of them and by contrast become more abstract and possibly cinematic.