Angelo (OmeU)

Angelo, a boy of African descent, comes to Europe as a slave. He is considered “a messenger of God” (thus his baptismal name), but he has yet to become human. As it turns out, his career in the early Age of Enlightenment will get him even further: within the three chapters of ANGELO one black man goes from trophy to allegory. Markus Schleinzer takes the 18th century (which we can assume as the period, as exact years and historical names are never given, even if eventually there appears a female majesty who may well stand for Maria Theresia) as a transitional period from mythological views to a “measuring of the world” in terms of new systems of order. Angelo serves (quite literally) as a mirror figure, not only for the courtly societies to whom he is presented, but also for contemporary audiences: Schleinzer projects a postcolonial conscience onto older ways of staging the “miracles of the world,” and in the process thwarts the ideas of “allegory” of different regimes of understanding. While Angelo’s contemporaries ask: “What does he represent?”, this question is also pertinent to period cinema as a common way to make sense of history: neither Angelo nor his proprietors ever reap any benefits of learning. Can web (Bert Rebhandl)

In the presence of Markus Schleinzer and members of the crew.