A cold case or happiness
Film and research project that developed between an investigation in the archives of the filmmaker, author and psychotherapist Erika Runge and an autotheoretical analysis of happiness. In the film loop, three performers seek to transmit a specific dynamic in which happiness is situated in a „competitive pattern of society“ (Adorno) and in a scenic present of contradictions. The film is inspired by a question Erika Runge had: can a claim to happiness blow up the system under these specific conditions? During a temporary residency stay in Los Angeles (MAK Center Residency), the individual search for happiness appeared to us still as foundational for the city life. For that, however, many contradictions have to be ignored in the everyday life. And so, can a claim to happiness blow up the system under these specific conditions if it is furthermore conceived as independent and interpreted in individualistic ways?
