Concept

-2012-

An episode of the BBC’s TV series Collaboration Culture paired Jankowski with Dubai-based curator Rami Farook. However, when the BBC refused Jankowski’s idea of blindfolding the crew for their stay in Dubai, he simply brought along his own Berlin-based film crew and blindfolded them. Farook, acting as the group’s guide, began their tour at Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world. Among other places, he led the team to an artist’s studio, a gallery, and an indoor ski resort. After reaching each destination, Farook left the film crew to shoot without telling them where they were. In the resulting video’s key scene, which takes place in the desert, a blindfolded Jankowski tells a blindfolded falcon the story of I Like America and America Likes Me: in 1974, Joseph Beuys flew to New York, had himself wrapped in felt, and spent a few days with a coyote inside the René Block Gallery. He then had himself wrapped back up in felt, and he flew home to Germany. He didn’t see anything of America, Jankowski explains. At this point in The Eye of Dubai, the video transitions from black and white to color, and the falcon flies away. In its place stand the two film crews. On the last night of their stay, a few moments before the premiere of the film, Farook removed everyone’s blindfolds – so that the artist and his crew could finally meet their collaborators face-to-face and see the results of their work. The Eye of Dubai consists of two films: the one made by Jankowski’s film crew, shot in black and white; and another, shot in color by the BBC, but including snippets of Jankowski’s version, which documents the project. The latter was broadcast by the BBC to 330 million homes in more than 200 countries worldwide.

Performance

Video

(1 x HD Cam, 1 x Blu-ray), 47:40 min, PAL, 16:9, b/w and color, sound, English with subtitles (Japanese), and BBC World News Collaboration Culture episode 4 (1 x Blu-ray), 26:56 min, PAL, 16:9, color, sound, edition of 5, II

Photograph

B/w photograph, fine art inkjet on baryt paper, 125 x 125 cm, edition of 5, II