Unlinked (Works)
Dislocations, disappearances and deprecations.
Unlinked
This year’s graduation show of the Master of Media Design & Communication at the Piet Zwart Institute perhaps reflects a shift in popular culture. Whereas no self-respecting media self-help book or newspaper article published in the last decade missed having 'linked' or 'stay connected' in the title, a more recent rash of articles and runaway best sellers feature words such as 'introvert' or 'silence.' Have we reached a consensual moment where we might all agree it has become urgently necessary to critically look at how the words 'social' and 'media' might be used together? Is it now pressing to explore how contemporary media forms part of pervasive networks of both communication and miscommunication, now look at how media can foster community yet also create isolation and foster loneliness? Is the spectre of loss increasingly haunting contemporary digital media?
The range of works in this show of the work of the 2014 graduating artists and designers of PZI MMDC at TENT are extremely diverse in terms of their formal approaches and aesthetic pre-occupations yet there is a strand of such concerns running through the works: a persistent focus on displacement, erasure, and loss.
Politics of Craft
Whereas no self-respecting media self-help book or newspaper article published in the last decade missed having 'linked' or 'stay connected' in the title, a more recent rash of articles and runaway best sellers feature words such as 'introvert' or 'silence.' Have we reached a consensual moment where we might all agree it has become urgently necessary to critically look at how the words 'social' and 'media' might be used together?
The art of documentation
In a society of fierce competition between creative entrepreneurs, artists are asked, or forced, to be more and more visible. Not only do they need to appear at openings, talk to potential clients and present uplifting 15-minute statements on (online) platforms, they also need to create convincing documentation of their work.
But what is documentation, what does it mean to document your own or someone else's artwork? Documentation can take many forms and its goals are likewise diverse: from publicity promo's and teasers to detailed explanations of all the works components for preservation purposes, or providing insight in creation processes and research trajectories.
Keeping to the 'standard' of contemporary presentations, within one hour, nine documents are shown to present the diversity and potentiality of documentation.
Finissage
Before Niek Hilkmann started performing as Niek Hilkmann he was constantly thinking about cool stage names. This turned out to be quite time-consuming, which is why he finally decided to acknowledge his birth-name.
Niek Hilkmann
Before Niek Hilkmann started performing as Niek Hilkmann he was constantly thinking about cool stage names. This turned out to be quite time-consuming, which is why he finally decided to acknowledge his birth-name. Since this happy occasion Niek was able to make a lot more catchy and dance-able electro-acoustic pop-music than before. Some themes that are discussed in his songs are compulsive disorders, Trixie (his dead dog), sexy palindromes and junkyard sales. At the finissage he will tell you all about it, together with a little band of merry misfits. Fun for all and all for fun!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzD53OQZ5WE
Nan Wang
Whereas no self-respecting media self-help book or newspaper article published in the last decade missed having 'linked' or 'stay connected' in the title, a more recent rash of articles and runaway best sellers feature words such as 'introvert' or 'silence.'