21 – Erinnerung ans Erwachsenwerden

What year did you turn 21? What happened in this year? And – how did you grew up? Mats Staub takes a lot of time talking to people of different ages about these questions. After three months, he visits his protagonists again: while he plays them the sound recordings, he films the reactions in the faces of the listeners. They range from smiles to tears, gestures of pride to visible reflection on what he told himself. As a video installation, “21” portrays the narrators as listeners of their own memories. It is an intimate moment to watch people begin to think about their lives. They share individual experiences and at the same time they bring together all the generations. “21” is a long-term project and expands from place to place. This growing collection of individual portraits creates an extraordinary gallery of the past and present century.

In Dresden, Mats Staub talks to people with a Russian biographical background and develops five new portraits.

Mats Staub (*1972, Muri bei Bern, Switzerland) lives and works in Berlin, aswell as the places of his long-term projects. He studied theatre studies, journalism and religious studies in Bern, Fribourg and Berlin and worked as a dramaturge at the Theater Neumarkt in Zurich (2002-2004). Since 2004 he has been developing art projects in the field of tension between theatre and exhibition, science and literature.

Already existing portraits: