
Franziska von Stenglin works primarily with photography and video, but also with installations and sculptures. For several years she has been exploring the significance of local myths and traditions for contemporary social relations in different cultures and societies. She has worked in Mexico, Brazil, and Vietnam, among other places, where she has particularly investigated forms of withdrawal from the demands of everyday life.
For the film The Dust of Modern Life, which the artist realized together with the cinematographer Diego Garcia (editor: Marylou Vergez, sound design: Marian Mentrup), the film team accompanied, in the manner of an ethnographic observation, a group of people of the ethnic minority of the Sedang, who live in the highlands of Vietnam. Die Bewohner des Dorfes praktizieren noch jedes Jahr ein überliefertes Ritual, für das sie sich eine Woche in den Urwald zurückziehen. The so-called cultureless time represents a journey to the beginnings of mankind and serves, as it were, as a spiritual bath to recharge energy and vitality.