#apathy #survival #whatever
video essay, site-specific installation, 2014
installation in Framer Framed, Tollhuistuin, Amsterdam, NL
Consumerism does not satisfy people's needs and desires, but rather creates new ones instead. It is a myth, constructed and designed to please you, to comfort you, to make you want more, to fool you, to consume you.
The inevitable consequence of the unbearable lightness of consumerist being is comfortable apathy. But while it seems that an apathetic public is distracted, and thereby in the perfect state for manipulation, apathy is in fact the most political action. Institutionalized power gives an illusion of participation, while it only triggers small local acts that confirm the exclusion of the public from politics. Who said it's bad, when we don't participate?
#apathy #survival #whatever reverses the tools formerly created for marginalizing the public into an act of resistance, presenting a visual strategy for survival in the 21st century. Fight apathy with apathy… or, whatever.
Pulsating bass beats mix with scrolling word pictures. The train of thought of a person trying to orient themselves in a kaleidoscope of information and visual sensations is interrupted at irregular intervals by a flip into a mirrored reality that is the exact opposite of their apathetic self. It is that rebellious activating voice that calls for resistance. The paradox is that the greatest rebelliousness in today's time is precisely apathy. The video plays with this perverse paradox, subverting formerly repressive methods in favor of resistance as a strategy for survival in the 21st century.
This site-specific installation was part of a group exhibition of the master diploma projects of the Department of Design, Sandberg Institute Amsterdam. It creates an ambivalent space that is both open and closed, both dark and light, making it a literal reinterpretation of the paradox in space. The space narrows towards the video screen, which is the only source of light in the space. From the screen, the viewer looks at the face - subject and object in one person, the viewer and the viewed. The face, however, is not looking at us, but at its own screen, which creates an invisible barrier between us. On the left side, a mirrored wall reflects the image spread out in multiple angles, which intensifies the perception of contrasts and ambivalence in the space.
#apathy #survival #whatever
(2014)
Sandberg Instituut Amsterdam, NL
visual essay, 6 min 15 s  https://vimeo.com/99987429
site specific installation at Dialetheia, Framer Framed/ Tollhuistuin, Amsterdam, NL