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Lilli Weinstein (1998) uses her camera to effectuate encounters. In a world full of fleeting interactions, she investigates the complexity of human relationships and our desire for making connections. With their clearly defined parameters and written-out scripts, these encounters have a performative quality. Within, and perhaps thanks to, these rules there is room for coincidence and spontaneity. Such as the notes she regularly writes to invite the reader to get in touch with her, and which she hides in the public space for anyone to find.
Her project Recipe for Fat Nostalgia (2023) started with an open call, asking people to share their greatest fears. This led to her meeting Asli, who is afraid of endings. Weinstein wrote a script for a three-day encounter in a Berlin hotel room where they developed an intense relationship. And that was exactly the point: without nostalgia for how things were, an ending would be meaningless. After those three days, they promised never to have contact again. Set up on a tripod in the room, the camera was their only audience.
The results are displayed at Prospects. The contact sheets show trivial daily activities, the hotel room, and intimate close-ups. But also a lot of repetition. As Asli could not be involved in making a selection, Weinstein refrained from doing so too. The contact sheets show the sum total, unadorned and unedited.
There is one exception to the rules of their arrangement: in a found family album they hid a couple of photographs with their contact details and brought this album to a second hand shop. In the event someone gets in touch with them, they too are allowed to meet again.
Text: Esmee Postma
Translated from Dutch by Marie Louise Schoondergang (The Art of Translation)