"Der Passagier"

video (DVD), 66:50 min

The film Passenger from the year 2000 shows the route covered by a model railroad that Hans Schabus laid through his workspace at a height of 2.7 meters, following the layout of his studio. In “Retrospect”, fragmentary pieces of the space traveled through collapse upon the viewer. The retrospective refers to views of the space passing by the eye. Unlike the modern figure of the flâneur, who appropriates his surroundings with a wandering gaze, Schabus is the “passenger”, past whom things pass without the eye being able to steer or fixate: He surrenders to time and space, remains attracted to the phenomena, cannot escape them. The movement is primarily preoccupied with itself; the everyday life of the studio is only peripherally recognizable. This is about the creation of images of space and time. The viewers themselves become passengers.
(Kerstin Engholm Gallery, Vienna, 2000, translated by deepL)