Das Meisterspiel

"Das Meisterspiel" is the consequence of the former films from Lutz Dammbeck "Zeit der Goetter" and "Duerers Erben". In "Meisterspiel" Lutz Dammbeck himself becomes a detective asking questions about the scandal of destroyed pictures from artist Arnulf Rainer in Vienna in the nienties. There are two theories who could have destroyed the pictures of an artist, who himself is known as a destroyer of pictures from other artists. The first theory is: It was Arnulf Rainer himself (to focuse again international interest to a grown old and not any more intersting artist). The second is: It was one of his students. Lutz Dammbeck follows both lines. Key for his research is a letter which was send to an austrian magazine immediatly after the pictures of Rainer have been destroyed. It is a very long and very confusing letter full of remarks about german history and symbols which lead to a sort of esotheric neo-nazi context. Around the destroing of Rainers pictures happened a series of bombing attentates from the neonazi Fuchs in Austria. Dammbeck finds a lot of astonishing parallels in Rainers biografie (he was in a nazi elite school (Napola) during his childhood). One of his students was a well known neonazi in Vienna who selfmurdered in a spectaculary art-mis en scene in Vienna. The detective work of Dammbeck finds no final answers, but takes a lot of very intersting questions about where modern art is spiritually coming from and what inspires it specially in Austria and Germany after the lost war. Connections to the generation of 1968 are done, with protagonists from the political left who have become in a very esotheric manner Neo-Nazis. It takes in question the unquestioned modern art in a very intelligent way. A must to see for people who are intersted in an artistic dialog about modern art, view from an artist of the following generation. The composition of "personal text" pictures, interviews, historical material and a very collaging filmmusic and sounddesign work makes the documentary itself to a form of artwork, which is astonishing in the metier of documentary-film.