The End Time

“The End Time” was developed for the exhibition Spectral Afterlives at Sprengel Museum Hannover on occasion of the publication of “Spectral Afterlives – Bjørn Melhus and his Media Doubles” with an essay by Elisabeth Bronfen. The focus of the 4-channel video installation is a fictional “Dorothy”. In dreamlike episodes，she recites quotations from the film “The Wizard of Oz” (1939) and the television series “China Beach” (1988-1991) against the background of the Central Vietnamese jungle and in opposition to an overbearing moon. Melhus refers to two events, the 1969 moon landing and the Vietnam War (1955-1975)，which received worldwide media attention.