Reale Fiktionen & ebensolche Simulationen

Museum Morsbroich, Leverkusen
20 September – 15 November 2020
curated by Stefanie Kreuzer and Fritz Emslander

“The Panorama Fiction entry THE STEPS WITH NO NAME (GB/DE/AT 2020) by Alan Smithee subtly [raises] the question of light and its dark sides, and, through the figure of Ray Mondt – a former polar explorer who has developed an allergy to sunlight – explores the environmental consequences of technological development and the obsession with progress.
Because of his hypersensitivity, the title character with the telling name must retreat from the glaring light of the Arctic into the darkness of an underground laboratory. In the solitude of his secluded existence, he gradually loses not only contact with the outside world but also his humanity. A melancholic commentary on our world, pushed to its limits.” (Sarah Sander, RAY Filmmagazin, April 2020)

The Steps with no Name, which celebrated its world premiere at the Crossing Europe Film Festival in Linz this year, is a stylish retro noir modelled on film classics of the 1940s and 50s. Yet the film about a lonely creature of the night and his romantic longing for light and belonging is also, as its recent reception shows, a subtle work of climate fiction: together with their protagonist, director Alan Smithee and screenwriter Matthias Wollgast see the only way out of the current social and climate crisis in a radical abandonment of life as we know it.

In the exhibition, Wollgast presents the making-of, the story behind this film set in London's East End, and stages its premiere. Even though the film itself cannot be screened, its plot can be followed through numerous stills and set photographs, excerpts from the storyboard, and illustrative supporting material, culminating in a presentation of Ray Mondt's stage-like London basement room. Interviews, reviews and a preview of the film's curious reception history further broaden the perspective on The Steps with no Name.