Film screenings at the Westfälischer Kunstverein
In the 1980s, Peggy Ahwesh (born 1954, USA) carried her Super8-camera with her wherever she went. With her analytical eye for gestures and behaviour, she developed “microcultural studies” of her friends and family, offering an alternative to conventional filmmaking and questioning the controlled, supposedly objective and predictable. Ahwesh enters a space that is dedicated to the often overlooked and marginalised and gives meaning to the everyday. What is considered authentic in front of the camera and what is not?
Ahwesh’s work often focuses on individuals in small, intimate spaces – places where people perform, experiment and improvise, revealing different facets of themselves in relation to others. The films raise questions about what it means to consider someone a friend, to build a relationship with them through the lens of a camera. In what ways do we connect with friends differently than with strangers? What brings us together and what keeps us connected? And how can something as fleeting and immaterial as intimacy be captured on film?
The Pittsburgh Trilogy illustrates this approach and shows intimate portraits of their friends Roger, Claudelle and Margie, filmed in their flat in Pittsburgh. The trilogy includes Verite Opera, Paranormal Intelligence and Nostalgia for Paradise.
The multi-day film screening of The Pittsburgh Trilogy (1983) by Peggy Ahwesh (14 to 18 May 2025) will be complemented by contributions from students in Prof. Andreas Köpnick ‘s Film, Video and New Media class (Kunstakademie Münster).
Click here for the article on the website of the Westfälischer Kunstverein.
Peggy Ahwesh is a Brooklyn-based media artist whose work spans a variety of technologies and styles and explores feminism, cultural identity and genre issues. Ahwesh was socialised in Pittsburgh in the 1970s – influenced by Super8-filmmaking, feminism and the punk underground scene.
Her works are in the collection of MoMA, NYC; Julia Stoschek Collection, Düsseldorf; M+, Hong Kong; Museum of Contemporary Art, Barcelona. Ahwesh has participated in the Whitney Biennial three times (1991, 1995, 2002).
