FROM MY DESERT accompanies a young investor into the freeport in Geneva to a meeting arranged by his art dealer to review terms and conditions of his most recent asset. When the purchase contract is concluded, the artwork will be stored in the tax-free zone for the next several years, until its market increase makes a resale lucrative. Through labyrinthine aisles in the style of computer games, the computer-generated character moves through the strictly secured warehouse, built to preserve the anonymity of its customers, to a private, air-conditioned showroom. There, the investor meets the famous portrait of Martin Luther (1528) by Lucas Cranach the Elder.
However, what’s supposed to be just a tangible asset turns out in to be so much more. Suddenly, the investor thinks he hears the painting speak, then he takes a friendly smile from Luther. A budding friendship begins between the investor and the reformer, they talk about “typical guy stuff” – such as how to use political power and loyalty to get ahead, and let others do the work while pursuing their own interests. Soon, the young investor develops unknown erotic feelings for the serious and manlylooking Martin. Whenever he can he visits him for a tête-à-tête in the “dark room”. However, Martin’s attention goes out as soon as the investor, who can’t bear the thought of losing his “beautiful prisoner”, becomes weak and loses sight of the common goal: the profitable resale.
FROM MY DESERT traces the grotesque absurdity of an art market that has degenerated into pure speculation and the questionable role of freeports, conjuring up the mutual attraction of “Protestant ethics and the spirit of capitalism” (as in the famous work of Max Weber published in 1905), and
amalgamates in the hand-painted, animated portrait of “Martin” digital animation and painting.