Though he primarily makes sculpture and graphite works on paper, US-born, Berlin-based artist John von Bergen has organized a screening series of contemporary video work from his adopted country. Trans Video Express: Recent Video Art from Germany takes place during two evenings this month at New York's Sara Meltzer Gallery. The series brings video from 14 artists and collectives working in Berlin, Hamburg, Cologne, Dresden, Leipzig, Stuttgart, and Karlsruhe to the States for the first time. The first installment, on October 18th, includes a work by the Dresden group Reinigungsgesellschaft, whose name, according to curator, ranges in meaning from "Cleaning Service" to "Purification Society." Their contribution shows the group changing the signage in a working-class neighborhood so that the banal wording comes to resemble roadside poetry. They then question pedestrians on the merits of the intervention, inevitably drawing up discussion of German political and social issues. The evening ends with a new work by Knut Klassen, who formerly collaborated with John Bock and Gelatin, that features unscripted monologues and performances by Berlin actors. On October 25th, the series continues with work by Pablo Wendel, who disguises himself as a "Terra Cotta Warrior" and attempts to hide among 7,000 others before being dragged off by puzzled security guards--the artist struggles to remain motionless throughout--and Wolfgang Oelze's homage to Hollywood suicide, 'Old Painful,' among others. While Germany may be better known stateside for its painters, the series will show that it is also a breeding ground for ambitious video--though in a statement on the show, the curator is quick to clarify that it is not a representative, biennial-style overview, but a selected demonstration of the range of work being made.