Bilder einer Ausstellung plot
In this television film Ulrich Seidl wanted to take a roundabout way to ridicule the ivory tower of modern art criticism. He does not let those critics see or hear them, but instead sought out ordinary Austrians, lay people in the field of art, and asked them to give their opinion on a modern painting. The form is modest and the tone seems mild: people are interviewed about the painting in a tight frame, but in the meantime Seidl does have a hidden agenda. By contrasting their ideas and thoughts with those of the experts, he shows once again that the gap between the public and critics is enormous. Critics work in isolation from society and exclude others through their knowledge, precisely the theme that can be found in much of Seidl's work. The question arises whether the interviewees are aware of Seidl's goal: to sketch a split society where rich and poor, low-skilled and highly-educated live at odds with each other.