EVENT: GREGORY NACHMANOVITCH (OCTOBER 16–29 2026)
Waldenstein 1 and Waldenstein 2
Waldenstein 1
single-channel 3D animation, 6 min 21 sec, filmed inside theHunter: Call of the Wild, Dear Esther, Miscreated, and Asemblance, 2018, United States of America
Waldenstein 2
single-channel 3D animation, 6 min 18 sec, filmed inside Farming Simulator 17, Final Fantasy XV, Horse Simulator 2017, Real Farm, and Wildlife Park 2 – Horses, 2018, United States of America
created by Gregory Nachmanovitch
introduced by Matteo Bittanti
Across Waldenstein 1 and Waldenstein 2, Nachmanovitch records footage inside nine commercial videogames, treating their first-person viewpoints as cameras and their proprietary worlds as found moving-image material. The first instalment moves from an autumn field and the armed perspective of a hunter to a grid of mountain thumbnails marked “View more” and a lakeside jetty where the player’s hands and rifle remain visible. The second draws largely on farming and animal simulations: agricultural machines block a residential intersection, a sheep stands within a fenced enclosure, and a rural field drifts into soft focus. Narration, guided-meditation prompts, ambient sound, and abrupt musical shifts alternately reinforce and unsettle the pastoral calm of these environments. The films turn movement through game worlds into close observation, while keeping the interfaces, tools, and boundaries that shape each view visible.
Gregory Nachmanovitch is an American artist, animator, and game designer based in Berlin. Raised in Charlottesville, Virginia, he earned a BFA in sculpture from Pratt Institute in 2019 and an MFA with distinction from the Glasgow School of Art in 2023. He creates animated films in game engines, often building the models and levels through which their cameras move. Across films, computer games, sculptures, renderings, and drawings, his work examines how masculinity, agency, gaming, and fantasy intersect with radical political movements and historical narratives. His projects have been presented at the Sara’s/Dunkunsthalle, Number 1 Main Road, Holešovická Šachta, Lubov Gallery, and The Pipe Factory. He was a member of the desktop theater troupe ‘CompUSA.LIVE’, which staged performances at the New Museum and Future Space. Recent solo exhibitions include The Feeling of Being Safely Enclosed in a Shell in New York (2024) and Self Portrait With Pets in Berlin (2026). Mannheim received its world premiere in the German Competition at the 42nd Kurzfilm Festival Hamburg in 2026; Gioia Film handles its international festival distribution.