Lauris Paulus, Mitchell Anderson and Vaselin Aktekin

Lauris Paulus, Mitchell Anderson and Vaselin Aktekin
Opening: 11.11.2017 17:00
12.11.2017 - 21.01.2018

Curated by Balthazar Lovay

Fri Art Kunsthalle presents three artists for their very first personal exhibition in an art center.

As Mountain winds by Mitchell Anderson
Mitchell Anderson is interested in the circulation of ‘memory objects ‘and recontextualises, in exhibition spaces, objects he purchases outside the usual economic circuits. For example, he buys Hollywood relics and talismans at auction or US Army propaganda that he then exhibits. In 2015, he also began buying entire stands from souvenir or gadget sellers that he met in major tourist cities (Marrakesh, Rome, Bern, Hong Kong). These consumer objects are all industrially produced, often in Asia. By displacing them in this way, he points to the contrast between mass production and the informal economy whose existence these sellers, their stands and their wares display for all to see. Here, mass production puts an individual workforce at its service, lending goods an authentic, ‘craft ‘image, their stands often being veritable temporary, DIY constructions. Once placed in an art space they raise both artistic and social questions.

Wild Girls by Vaselin Aktekin
A wild girl in a pink dress, her legs waxed and her hair straightened, lives in the forest. Vaselin Aktekin, cellphone in hand, sets off to look for her. She films her with the aim of producing some kind of wildlife documentary like the ones from the Sixties she’s seen on YouTube, with a voiceover describing how the wild girl cuts her lip tearing off bits of bark to feed herself.

Eventually, the images from this shoot will be used to produce another film. Not a linear film, but instead one composed of layer upon layer of information, each adding up to produce the kind of instant pleasure that «satisfying videos» give. Whether it’s filmed images, coloured surfaces, graphic and sound effects, or even elements specific to video editing, each component is addressed in the same way and is intended to be accessible.

First a sultry voice announces the title «Wild Grlz» in the manner of a music videoclip. Then follows a subtitled dialogue revealing what the artist said to the actress after the filming in the forest. A kind of behind-the-scenes documentary in which each relates their shared fantasy. This sexist exchange resonates discordantly with visual sequences that show the artist and actress parodying certain types of behaviour in the forest. It could be construed as a spontaneous reply or a kind of reaction to what the girls did to each other during the shooting. This discrepancy between different examples of stereotyped sexism highlights gender-based issues, while at the same time humorously underscoring our propensity to generate ever more of it. This film is not a trailer for another film that might expound upon the subject of feminism. Slightly ironic questioning soon gives way to platitudes worthy of a second-rate video. Colour screens act as poetic interludes, whilst calling to mind the overload of effects prevalent in video editing on popular internet channels. Thug-life style zooms, pop ashes, low quality and succinct images go hand in hand with regressive content, in which nothing seems to hold any importance.

Research & Development by Lauris Paulus