By Axel Lapp
The speakers of the 11 monitors blare into the gallery space, resulting in a cacophony of soundtracks individually discernable as protest, celebration, drunken melee and battle cry only when compared to the different moving images on each of the screens. For Democracies, Artur Zmijewski has filmed 11 short documentaries about public demonstrations of political opinion. They are played concurrently and in continuous loops; in front of each of the monitors stands a wooden folding chair and headphones, so that a visitor has the opportunity to concentrate on each of the films in isolation.
Their subjects range from protests against Israeli occupation in the West Bank and a blockade of ‘the Apartheid Road’ in Israel to reenactments of the Warsaw Uprising, a celebration of the trade union Solidarność and an official feast of the Polish Army, a Loyalist parade in Belfast, the funeral of Jörg Haider in Klagenfurt, a Labour Day riot in Berlin and the public celebrations of the semifinal between Germany and Turkey in last year’s European championships. Through such direct comparison, many rather unexpected connections appear among the seemingly unrelated events. Zmijewski’s films weave an intriguing narrative about political activity and freedom of expression, about crowd psychology, representation and acting. Read More...>
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
