User:Aitantv/Installation

Day 02 - 02.11.22

REFERENCES

WEB

• Huge artist film database (ubu.com/film/index)

READ

WATCH

• The Life of Others

LARISSA SANSOUR

larissasansour.com/

Palestinian, Jerusalem - lives in UK - interdisciplinary borrowing from the langauage of film, media, etc. Life in Palestine, televised culture, Humurous schemes.

Nation Estate (2012)

• a lot of visual signifiers - no dialogue
• the wall separates them from Israel, the main state
• part of a trilogy - portray a bleak future as a consequence of current choices
• clinically dystopian - glossy images CGIs
• a vertical solution - a high rise encapsulates the whole palestinian population and culture
• sci-fi as a carrier bag for complex political and identity issues
• many sci-fi films created in Eastern side of Berlin - such as Metropolis
• carves a new direction in the way video art can be an aggressive player in reimagining future utopias

Falafel Road (2010)

• Did Israel steal the falafel from the Palestinians? This seemingly silly question is a precursor to an investigation into the intentional and systematic hijacking and eradication of Palestinian cultural history by the state of Israel.
• This psycho-geographical project charts a subjective and exilic map of the falafel in London, as well map those attending the meals - a collage of friends and colleagues belonging to relevant artistic and political networks.

LAWRENCE ABU HAMDAN

Walled Unwalled (2018) http://lawrenceabuhamdan.com/walled-unwalled

• Walled Unwalled shows Abu Hamdan behind the windows of an infamous Cold War–era recording studio in former East Berlin. He speaks about the permeability of walls, citing in the process the US Supreme Court thermal-imaging case Kyllo v. United States (2001), the murder trial of Oscar Pistorius, and the survivors of Saydnaya prison. The accumulation of walls, holes, and speech in the video is polyphonic, even if Abu Hamdan’s voice, set to increasingly ominous percussion, is the main one we hear.
• the light bleeds through semi-transparent screens in the installation
• layering of mental spaces, sounds, voices
• content: quite rich, fast talking, detailed and conceptually vigorous, essayistic
• deeply rooted in reality, research of cases all relating to the central theme
• interesing use of media, such as Oscar Pistorius
• as voiceover and performer he's at the centre of it, as he also testifies in court in real life on behalf of subjects
• formal weakness: a lot going on and he's at the centre of it, a lot of content and information, how much are we actually listening?

RAGNAR KJARTANSSON

His video installations, performances, drawings, and paintings incorporate the history of film, music, visual culture, and literature. His works are connected through their pathos and humor, with each deeply influenced by the comedy and tragedy of classical theater. Kjartansson's use of durational, repetitive performance to harness collective emotion is a hallmark of his practice and recurs throughout his work.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6MkPSwnJU4&ab_channel=IkonGallery

The Visitors (2012)

• The Visitors constitutes the performance of a song written by Ásdís Sif Gunnarsdóttir, Kjartansson's ex-wife. The piece is displayed across nine different screens, each featuring musicians or artists either by themselves or in groups in different rooms of a house, or outside, performing simultaneously but separately.[4] One screen features Kjartansson by himself. Others featured in the piece include friends of Kjartansson, both from the artist's native Reykjavík and elsewhere, as well as residents of Rokeby Farm, where the piece was filmed.
• The piece has been positively reviewed, with critics highlighting Kjartansson's focus on repetition, a recurring theme in his performances. In September 2019, The Guardian ranked The Visitors first in their Best Art of the 21st Century list, with critic Adrian Searle calling it "a kind of extended farewell to romanticism".

A Lot of Sorrow (2013)

• durational performance of Sorrow by The National.

Pathos/Comedy

• sense of catharsis going through the whole piece
• totally unpretentious and super narcissistic
• quite liberating - funny - make me happy