Early last year, a crate of film, props, and scripts was found in Siberia, then moved to Poland as part of an ongoing effort to establish a museum of Polish and Russian history in Bialystok. Luckily, the Alaska-born, Berlin-based film and video artist Reynold Reynolds happened to be completing a residency nearby. He embarked on a  year-long process of restoration and reenactment of the silent film, which is set on the eve of the Nazis’ rise to power. Starting in March of last year, Reynolds convened a cast at the Haus der Kulturen der Welt and reconstructed a set based on stills that he had been able to restore. Since late November, that process has migrated to the basement of the Berlin space Gallery Zink, where every week Reynolds produces another scene from the film — from rehearsals to stop-motion takes with a DSLR to live shots using a vintage 16mm camera — in front of an audience that often spills out of the room containing the set. The gallery’s ground-floor space also exhibits some of the source material, including sketches and scans of the original celluloid.

“At the base of this project is the question, 'What would have happened to Germany and the world if the Nazis had never been elected?'" Reynolds tells ARTINFO. “The Lost Film Performances” helps capture an era that has for all intents and purposes been covered over by what directly followed. The director of the original film, which was titled “Die Verlorenen” (“The Lost”), himself disappeared, likely for political reasons, leaving his cinematographer to collect what was shot in hopes of later finishing the work.

Watching the performances, it's clear that the final product is not as important as the redemptive act of the recreation itself.  Descending into the gallery’s basement, you encounter what — save for an iMac and a few cameras — looks identical to what one could have expected on the film’s original set. “In this case everything is exposed to the audience because the art is the process and the process is self reflexive,” says Reynolds. At certain points throughout the series, the audience is asked to participate: don costumes, swing-dance, and drink with the actors. 

Interactivity aside, the performance is highly engaging, with melodramatic acting and a stram of often humorous commentary from the cast and Reynolds himself. (There is not set audio track.) The feeling of both visiting a film shoot and witnessing performance art creates a strange tension; the meticulousness of Reynolds' reproduction becomes almost makes you forget that you're watching a revisionist history.

The final performance will take place on Thursday, January 12 from 6-9pm.