A program about children’s fascinations and the fascination with children. A society’s norms and values are never expressed more clearly than they are in the way that the society deals with children. The child of today is no longer seen as the personification of innocence. An image of the child as a malicious or sexual being is on the rise in the media and advertising, but also in art. Both the way children are becoming “grown-ups” sooner and sooner as well as the entertainment industry’s obsession with child stars are put under the magnifying glass here. Some artists appropriate the world of children in order to comment on society. The child’s fantasy world holds up a mirror to adults, and seems able to reduce loaded issues down to surprisingly small proportions.

INSTALLATIONS

Annemiek (I Wanna Be With You), Rineke Dijkstra (Nederland, 1997)
Parallel to the production of her project “The Buzzclub/Mysteryworld” Rineke Dijkstra made a series of videoportraits of children. She asked them to bring their favourite music and filmed them listening to it. Annemiek, the girl in this video brought along the song “I wanna be with you” by The Backstreet Boys. She spontanously started to sing along. Rineke Dijkstra: “What I like myself in this videoportrait is that although the girl is too young to really understand the lyrics, she probably alre- ady has some kind of notion of desire and love.”

Zonder Titel, Mariska van Gelder (Germany, 2000)
A game with animated and filmed realities.

Nature Studies, Heli Rekula (Finland, 1997)
A semi-documentary of a young girl studying the behaviour of insects and small animals and telling stories of her studies in nature.

I Built This Garden For Us, Stefan Banz (Switzerland)
This small exhibition exists from diverse images and video works. In his work, Stefan Banz exposes the hidden beauty of seemingly ordinary scenes. By combining a carefully selected perspective with e ‘moment décisif,’ Banz adds a new truth to the domestic images of bis family and his environment. The ambiguous images in Banz’ work evole feelings of alienation and melancholy, simultaneously highlighting the deceptive power of the image.

Heidi II,  Laura Parnes & Sue de Beer (USA)
Remake of mc Cartys’ and Kellys video piece. a racy version of the story about the brave Alpine girl, with ingredients such as incest horror, and feminism.

FILM/VIDEO 1:

Silly Boy, Get Out!, Julian Woropay (UK, 1999, video, 9min)
Airshow, Roz Mortimer (UK, 1999, video, 4min)
Little Girl, Bruce Baille (USA, 1995, 16mm, 3min)
Seuls, Oliver Smolders & Thierry Knauff (Belgium, 1989, 12 min)
Recital, Seth Price (USA, 1999, video, 16min)
If 6 Was 9, Eija-Liisa Ahtila (Finland, 1995, 35mm, 10min)
Fabel, Mariska van Gelder (Netherlands, 1997, 16mm, 4min)
Het Is Mooi Geweest, Mariska van Gelder (Germany, 2000, 16mm, 8min)
Nest of Tens, Miranda July (USA, 1999, video, 27min)

FILM/VIDEO 2:

Performance, Laura Parnes (USA, 1995, video, 4min)
Talent Show, Laura Parnes (USA, 1996, video, 4min)
Heidi, Paul McCarthy & Mike Kelley (USA, video, 63min)