Zwaanshals In Motion: nieuws

ZiNlicht#1 <Beheaded/Between>

Installation by Carlos Andrade and Todd Ayoung/NY

For an extensive interview with Todd Ayoung about this intriguingly disturbing piece of political art CLICK HERE

General exhibition text and bios:

NL ONTHOOFDEN/TUSSEN

Dit werk gebruikt portretten van bekende politieke figuren als een manier om de toeschouwer te betrekken in de botsing van imperiums. Deze crisis is niet buitenlands of vindt niet elder plaats, maar verdeelt onze subjectiviteit in onze eigen leefwereld.

De hoofden van de leiders zijn gevat in metalen lichtbakken; ze zweven in een witte leegte. Deze hoofden zijn de digitale sporen van hedendaagse media-representaties. Ze zijn geheimzinnig door de distorties veroorzaakt door overlapping en transparantie. Eén hoofd presenteert zichzelf als meer bekend dan een andere of één hoofd lijkt de andere te domineren.
Is hier de opbouw van een imperium aan het werk?

De toeschouwers die voorbij de raamgalerij passeren zijn deels voyeur van de hedendaagse lokale en globale politiek. De burgers, migranten, illegalen en vluchtelingen staan buiten -een "publieke" ruimte- en kijken naar binnen -een "private" ruimte. De ontoegankelijkheid van de private ruimte van de politieke macht wordt versterkt door de extra visuele obstakels: lichtbakken waarop beelden zijn aangebracht van muren met scherven glas.

ENGLISH BEHEADED/BETWEEN

This work uses familiar portraits of political figures (Bush, Bin Laden, Saddam Hussein, as a way to engage the moving or stationary spectator in the crisis or clash of empires. This crisis is not foreign or taking place elsewhere but severs our very subjectivity in the place we stand.

The heads of the leaders are encased in white metal light boxes and float in a void of whiteness. These heads are digital traces of current media representations that are uncanny because of the distortions caused by overlapping and transparency. One head presents itself as more familiar than another or one head seems to dominate the others. Is this empire-building at work?

The spectator walking past or standing still is a partial voyeur of the obscenity of contemporary local and global politics. These citizens, migrants, illegals and refugees stand outside in a "public" space looking into a "private" space, a space that seems even harder to access.
The difficulty of access to the private space of political power is multiplied by the additional visual obstacles of light boxes on the windows containing images of walls crowned with broken glass.

ARTIST BIOS
Todd Ayoung, born in Trinidad/West Indies, lives and works in the US. He has studied at the School of Visual Arts/NYC, the Whitney Museum Independant Study program/NYC and made his MFA in 1998 at Yale University in sculpture. Has has made numerous solo- and group exhibitions, among others at Experimental Intermedia/Gent, Art in General/NYC, The Cooper Union/NYC, Panic Room/Denmark, Kliemsteinhaus/Austria, and other international appearances. Since 2000 collaborative projects with Carlos Andrade.

Carlos Andrade, born in Colombia, lives and works in the US. Fine Arts BA at Rhode Island School of Design/Providence RI. Has has made numerous solo- and group exhibitions, among others at Experimental Intermedia/ Gent, Art in General/NYC, The Cooper Union/NYC, Panic Room/Denmark, Kliemsteinhaus/Austria, and other international appearances. Since 2000 collaborative projects with Todd Ayoung.