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In the summer of 1988, Walter Verdin moved into a chalet in the Swiss village of Corban for three weeks, together with six actors and a camera. There he made this video which, for several reasons, was only finished last year. For form and content, Verdin drew upon his personal archive of texts, music, film and TV fragments: from Sterne and Tchekov to Bunuel, Bergman and Amanda Lear. Verdin asked the actors to bring this material to life, each from his own specific cultural background. At the same time, Verdin strove to use and investigate a whole range of artistic and presentation codes and ‘formats’. The result is a colourful mosaic, structured by the company of actors hanging around in the idyllic countryside, in which many parallel lines of comparable length alternate with each other. A code is pastiched in each line: the costume drama, the TV presentation, the nature documentary, the Hollywood relationship drama ... There is some linear development in the scenes - ultimately with a protracted leave-taking - but there are no intrigues. You see starts and fragments. ‘Corban’ became more than a farcical pastiche: Verdin clearly made the video from a devotion to our cultural baggage as well ...
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Jorinde Seijdel
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Dramatist Peter de Jonge, Sound mixer Jan Ryckaert, Walter Verdin, Voice Omer Grawet, Walter Verdin, With Afra Waldhör, Lina Fregeres, Maarten Lok, Marianne Schnitger, Mieke Verdin, Willy Thomas, Thanks to Phyline Deldycke, Luc Isebaert, Production Corban vzw, AV-dienst Katholieke Universiteit Leuven
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