Akkumulation: Spuren im Privaten | Accumulation: Traces of Private Life

In this room installation, just as in my short film _Watch: Yourselves_, I explored the topic of addiction — but from a different angle.

The installation looks like a living room or a room in a student flatshare and invites visitors to stay for a while. At first, it may seem almost ordinary. But the longer you look, the more this impression starts to fall apart.

What is shown in the pictures on the wall? What condition is the furniture in? What else can be found if you keep looking? Traces of addiction, consumption and everyday coping mechanisms gradually become visible.

At the same time, the installation invites visitors to locate themselves within it: What do I recognize? What have I experienced myself? Which forms of consumption still feel normal to me — and at what point do they become a problem?

Finally, visitors are not only asked to observe consumption, but are also offered opportunities to take part in it themselves. TikTok videos play continuously and can be watched from a comfortable armchair as a break from the exhibition. Charging cables are available for phones, alcohol-free beer is offered, and everything needed to roll a cigarette is provided.

The installation therefore moves between observation, self-reflection and participation. Visitors can search for traces, but they can also leave their own.

Akkumulation: Spuren im Privaten

**Watch: Yourselves**, 2024, Short film  
_16:9 | Col | GERsound | ENsubs & GERsubs | 18:45min_

This fragmented film deals with themes such as addiction, escapism, and social failure.  
At the center of the film are two figures: an animated unicorn that gradually mutilates itself in order to obtain a fictional substance, and the “Atze”, who moves through music video sequences, TikTok clips, and live-action footage. While the unicorn increasingly loses control over itself, the Atze navigates spaces of distraction, escapism, and self-staging.

​

A humorous techno track, TikTok dances, and visual overstimulation stand in strong contrast to the growing darkness of the animated sequences. The text-on-screen elements repeatedly interrupt the film and confront the audience by posing questions about perception and social responsibility.

Towards the end of the film, the unicorn and the Atze encounter each other—without it ever becoming clear whether they were separate to begin with.

​

In this film, I play with the audience’s tendency to distract itself and to passively consume images, and I invite viewers to position themselves in relation to what they are seeing. In the process, either the audience will fail in its moral expectations, or the film will fail in its expectations of the audience. Personally, I hope it is the film that fails.

Screenings:

1.  Werkstatt der Jungen Filmszene, 2026
    
2.  Bundesfestival Junger Film, 2026, Filmreif Preis für den schrägsten Filmm
    
3.  Short Film Festival as part of World Design Capital 2026, Museum Angewandte Kunst Frankfurt, 2026
    
4.  25th Lausanne Underground Film & Music Festival, Fiction Short Film Competition

Watch: Yourselves

**A D H D s h o r t**, _2024, Short Film  
16:9 | Col | ENsound | 2:00min_

A two-minute insight into my perception with ADHD, my thoughts, my nature, personal incidents and about ADHD in general. Please concentrate.

> It’s already hard to focus these days - even harder for people suffering from ADHD. Franziskus Bries proves this impressively by presenting us plain text about the condition while constantly throwing videos, gameplays and motion graphics at us. Form follows function in this truly creative and relevant statement.

\-_Jury statement of the 2-Minute Short Film Award at Stuttgarter Filmwinter 2025_

Screenings:

1.  Stuttgarter Filmwinter, 2025, 2-Minutes-Shorts Competition  
    **(Special Mention)**
    
2.  Förderkreis Malerkapelle am Elm: Mikro-Filmfestival BREAK, 2025
    
3.  イメージフォーラム Image Forum Tokyo (2025)
    
4.  23\. FiSH Filmfestival Rostock 2026, SilberFISH Award
    
5.  FUSION Festival Lärz, 2026
    
6.  AUFTAUCHEN-JugendFestival Greifswald, 2026

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