Ludwig Poos Schwabe (2007, 36MB, 1:20 min) 1st Ping-Pong Lesson With Lucha Lib (2008, 31.2MB, 4:18 min) Even 18 years after the wall came down there s still a quite palpable residue of the great absurdist tradition that flourished under Stalinism in work being made in the former Eastern bloc. (Of course it goes back further, to Švejk to a certain Prague insurance clerk) Then, the deliberate crudeness, strangeness and in-your-faceness concealed the most serious of purposes. Of course there s still plenty to kick against everywhere, but one can t help wondering whether in work like this, Cheshire-cat-smile like, the attitude persists but a question lies over any substance. Of course there s no reason to demand high seriousness everywhere both these pieces are well made and amusing, though of the two I much prefer Ludwig, Lucha Lib being marred by a gratuitous and infantile sexism. I sound harsher than I mean to be. There is a lot to like in both pieces and I ll definitely be following future work from Pash with interest.
