June, 2003 |
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Current ExhibitRaid Projects Presents: Lines of Conduct (June 7- June 28th) curated by Britt Hendricks and Nienke Vijilbrief Artists: Sagi Groner Gertjan Kocken Boris van Nes Martijn Sanberg Nebojsa Seric Shoba Raid Projects Artist in Residence- L.A CAMs Philippe Hurteau (Paris, France) UNDERSKY Francoise-Aline Blain (Paris, France) ----------- Curatorial concept In Spring 2002 de Parel organised its first exhibition in Los Angeles. This exhibition was the second part of a newly founded co-operation with artist-initiative Raid Projects. In the Fall of 2001 Raid Projects curated a show in the space of de Parel, presenting the work of ten Los Angeles based artists. With "Selective Whole" de Parel presented the work of thirteen artists it had worked with in the recent past in Raid Projects. The encompassing theme was the way in which new media and the information society influence the work of contemporary artists. The focus was not on the usage of these media themselves but on the shift they initiate in the creative process that proceeds the actual realisation of a work of art. This year the organisation presents 'Lines of Conduct', an exhibition featuring works by five young artists. With reference to the previous exhibition these works focus on the reality outside the artwork, the tactile world instead of the virtual. Our outlook on the world is mostly determined by prior knowledge that comes to us through different sources. The Internet and the television provide easy access to a ceaseless amount of information and images. The question is if this knowledge beforehand signifies a limitation rather than an expansion. Are we still able to look at the world open minded or are we blinded and biased by the vast sea of information? That information that reaches us through different media is increasingly visual in nature, but processing it exceeds the mere process of looking at pictures. We are taught to read our physical environment in the same manner as a two-dimensional projection of it. Not only are we capable of processing and interpreting images, symbols and codes at high speed, we are also able to accept both reality and fiction as equal truths. What we see is often predefined by what we know. The world is divided according to natural or territorial borders. These are not the only borders we experience. Our everyday world is also divided by codes, messages, visual signs that tell us how to behave, how to act and what to expect. The entire guidance of societies and communities relies heavily on codes and symbols. Recognising them is the key factor. Can places and locations that are themselves silent or devout of codes and symbols tell us anything or do they only reveal their meaning through shared information? Is there code of conduct? For 'Lines of Conduct' Behaviorism de Parel selected five young artists living (or as in the case of Nebojsa Seric Shoba untill recently) and working in Amsterdam. For Sagi Groner control in society is a subject of almost obsessive pursuit, both in observing and figuring out the more hidden corners of how it works and inventing forms that manifest the yearning to break free from it. These manifest sometimes in poetic images and sometimes in rather noisy sound installations, often involving piracy of one kind or the other (pirate radio, plunder-phonic projects, sound pollution), thus combining his interest in sound and his personal views. The observation of social control ranges from political and power structures at large to the very personal "pains" of the individual trapped within them. A special interest in technology and its relation to these "pains" is also a recurring "theme" both in the content and in the usually complex technical systems constructed to manifest these ideas. The question is whether the significance of a particular place or landscape shows itself in the depiction of that place or of that landscape. Gertjan Kocken has a keen eye for the signifiers in the landscape. In his photographs he presents them as telling as they are without compromising to any photographic tricks of the trade. Even though the scenery seems calm and almost neutral, the use that is made of the depicted locations or events that have taken place there are not. Kocken pictures the seemingly neutral subject-matter in a neutral fashion.The object of interest is always located in the centre and the rest of the composition hardly gives additional clues. Kocken is currently working on a series in which he depicts the locations were disasters have taken place. He does not show the sites just after the dramatic events nor the destruction they have brought about. The spectator is presented with an innocent landscape from which al the symbols or codes that allude to the suffering seem absent. In the blink of an eye the pictures seem to be silent, telling no tale. In the installations of Boris van Nes symbols, codes and signals play an important role. His works alert to invisible dangers, immanent disasters and apparent accidents. Van Nes uses the politics of visual language and the mechanisms of crowd control. Installations combining the wailing sounds of sirens or loud distorted noise, flashing lights, traffic signs and rotating devices or levers cause confusion. Taken out of their original contexts and piled on top of each other the warning signals and signs invest a sense of dislocation in the spectator. Trusted symbols and directions on how to act seem to loose their meaning when confronted with each other. But even though the usual message can not get across and the myriad of directions creates a vacuum, the spectator is made aware by Van Nes that that a proper conduct in the presence of these installations is asked for and that merely shying away from them would be a shame. Combining technique and mechanics with painted pannels or animation films he invites the spectator for a closer look. Van Nes manages to create his own language by silencing another.
Martijn Sandberg is a rebel, although the first impression his work imposes on the viewer is that of a graphic designer with a fine sense of aesthetics. His subject matter is derived mainly from the anarchistic messages of Punk culture. By implementing it's subversive slogans and visual imagery into a clear cut and rational system of typographic settings he creates a highly personal language that does not reveal it's meaning at first sight. The works balance on a fine line between symbol, written word and abstract image. Any textual message is rendered nearly unreadable -and therefore already alluring to the pictorial- by means of the artists self created type fonts. The eye is further deceived by the use of bright fluorescent colours or light reflecting materials. Simultaneously however, the curt slogans provide an extra layer of social context, that blends in perfectly with the design of the work itself. Sandberg's work is dense and compact, but the message reaches beyond the edges of it's physical appearance. The artworks of Nebojsa Seric Shoba deal with many different subjects, but they all derive from the same origin: the artist's personal opinion of the world around him. An overall theme is formed through his analysis of consumerist behaviour in a power driven world. He exposes marketing as a method for crowd control, politicians as aggressive mythological creatures and the artist himself as a subject to the greater scheme of things. The methods he uses to reveal these truths are sometimes crude and the world he shows us is generally not a happy place. It consists of wars, boredom manipulation and mindless tourism. All of this is presented to us in photo's, sculptures, paintings and installations that show a surprising sense of humour and irony. In attacking the individuals apathy with the very symbols and mechanisms that construct our sense of reality, Seric holds up a mirror that confronts us with another meaning of life. Text by Britt Hendriks and Nienke Vijlbrief Raid Projects 602 Moulton Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90031 Tel: 323/ 441-9593 |
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