Manipulated Image #11

“For Action’s Sake”

1st Anniversary Celebration

Featuring 15 Video Artists from 10 Countries, Online Performances from Hamburg and Sweden, and Performances by 12 Local Artists

The first anniversary show of Manipulated Image, For Action’s Sake, considers the confluence of art and politics. Direct and indirect references are made to the role of mass media in the present, and its relationship to Machiavellian and Fascistic politics. For Action’s Sake contrasts autotelic individuals with those driven by external influences such as power and comfort, who in the end are left unfulfilled and alienated.

CAUTION: Some material suitable only for adults.

Friday, March 12, 2010; 6:30pm – 11pm
PLEASE NOTE THE NEW DATE ABOVE
tickets: $10 (includes food and reception)
Read more and download event color catalog on ManipulatedImage.com

PRESS CONTACT:
Alysse Stepanian, Curator of Manipulated Image
info@alyssestepanian.com
505-466-4832

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In cooperation with VideoChannel
NewMediaFest’2010: 10 Years [NewMediaArtProjectNetwork]:||cologne
Co-curated by Wilfried Agricola de Cologne & Alysse Stepanian

[NewMediaArtProjectNetwork]:||cologne
VideoChannel
NewMediafest’2010

Image: Ian Anderson in -Gluttony- by Brandon Soder

by Alysse Stepanian: “For Action’s Sake”
(November 2009)
Arthur Danto distinguishes two different political responses to “the danger of art.” One system controls and censors art, and the other excludes it “from the class of dangerous acts.” He adds, “In the one system, the artist, however conformist, is incipiently a rebel. In the other system, every rebel, however dangerous, is incipiently a conformist. In the one system, the political prison is the standing risk. In the other a Presidential Ceremony with a Citation for Excellence is the standing promise.”*

The first year anniversary show of Manipulated Image, For Action’s Sake, considers the confluence of art and politics. Direct and indirect references are made to the role of mass media in the present, and its relationship to Machiavellian and Fascistic politics. A play on words, the title references “art for art’s sake,” the failure of Modernism to fulfill its promise of bringing social change, and the persecution of avant-garde artists by the Nazis and Stalin, as they bore the stigma of the “degenerate” and “unofficial.” For Action’s Sake contrasts autotelic individuals with those driven by external influences such as power and comfort, who in the end are left unfulfilled and alienated.
* The Politics of Imagination, The Lindley Lecture, University of Kansas, October 29, 1988, pgs. 13-14

For the action’s sake?
A note by Wilfried Agricola de Cologne

When people act in a social context, they take responsibility, as long as it suits them. They try to define and explain the world through itself, without any social component. In the 19th century, art that lacked a social component, and explained itself through itself, was known as “L’art pour l’art.”

While sex represents an interaction between two partners, a fetish replaces the human partner and becomes the projection of desire, an expression of self-relatedness. Action as an expression of human behavior may become such a fetish, which gets its dynamics through itself – escalating violence is an example.

A fetish represents the final state of self-relatedness, superficiality and emptiness. There are many intermediate states, during which we are in danger of losing balance, while we still may have the choice to avoid the creation of a fetish. Anything may become a fetish – a thing, a tool, an ideology. There are countless examples of religious, political, or cultural ideologies which are used as fetish, causing fundamentalism and totalitarianism, for instance. The topic “for the action’s sake” is pointing to the action as such a fetish, whereby it is essential to explore the motivation of the one who is acting.

Contemporary society has developed into economically independent individuals who do not need each other to survive. Initially, this independence may seem as strength, while it is in fact an expression of weakness. A society focused on satisfying individual and personal needs, cannot survive as a society and civilization. The selected videos contain aspects of self-relatedness, and the struggle for balance. It is up to the viewers to explore not ony the films, but primarily themselves, to decide for themselves, which state of self-relatedness they identify with.

For more details and to download the event catalog, go to ManipulatedImage.com

VIDEOS AND PERFORMANCES CURATED BY ALYSSE STEPANIAN::

1- John Criscitello (Ithaca, New York); 14:19 total short selections; Guest Presenter: John will present and discuss his work
2- David Kareyan (Yerevan, Armenia); 10:19 – one selection
3- Ulf Kristiansen (Nesodden, a peninsula outside of Oslo, Norway); 2:30 – one selection
4- Jonas Nilsson (Örebro, Sweden); 14:06 total short selections
5- Roland Wegerer (Lives and works in St. Nikola/Danube and Linz, Austria); 1:47 – one selection
6- Julia Zastava (Moscow, Russia); 15:17 total short selections

PERFORMANCES:

- Niclas Hallberg, Stina Pehrsdotter (Sweden – online performance)
- Igor Stromajer (Hamburg, Germany – online performance)
- Philip Mantione, Al Faaet: The Autotelics (Santa Fe)
- Anthony Buchanan (Santa Fe)
- Alaina R. Alexander (Santa Fe)
- Martin Back, April Mae Bassett (Santa Fe)
- Ian Anderson (Santa Fe)
- Mike 360 (Santa Fe, USA)

VIDEOS CURATED BY WILFRIED AGRICOLA DE COLOGNE:

1- Daniel LoIocono (Germany): Digital Snapshots (2003, 5:08)
2- David Jakubovic (USA): “JOINED AT THE HEAD” (2008, 4:34)
3- Ioannis Roumeliotis (Greece): “Picking Cherries” (2009, 14:59 min)
4- Rafael (Belgium): “Let’s Make a Deal” (2008, 2:50)
5- Ascan Breuer (Germany): “The Kurukshetra-Report” (2008, 7:51)
6- Alex Lora (Spain): “So Much Love” (2007, 1:26)
7- Casey McKee (USA): “Corporate Warfare” (2005, 3:13)
8- Daniel Rodrigo (Spain): “Fashion Death” (2007, 4:36)