Group Show
2 October 2001 — 7 October 2001
“Group Show” is an exhibition featuring work by artists fascinated by group processes and related phenomena, such as collective identity, group dynamics, and uniformity. In installations, performances and workshops, humans are exposed as herd animals.
Group Show will feature work by Jeroen Koojimans (The Netherlands), Annika Larsson (Sweden), Klaar van der Lippe (The Netherlands), Maria Pask (United Kingdom), Patricia Piccinini (Australia), Arturas Raila (Lithuania) and Julia Rudelius (The Netherlands).
Dying for Enlightenment | Maria Pask is fascinated with the issue of what personal freedom is, and how it can be expressed in group activities. On three monitors, we see the various sides of a group of five young women passing through the successive stages of meditation. This process is based on meditation courses from the 1970’s. The people breathe, dance, and jump in order to liberate themselves, to be. released, and to get in touch with their own primitive “I”. The group is asked to perform the exercises as naturally as possible, which results in predictable behaviour. On the fourth monitor, we see the artist on her own, performing the same exercises. She stops at an early stage, after which the monitor displays the image of the empty room.
Leuk Voor | Julia Rudelius investigates human behaviour, as well as the codes and characteristics that groups use to identity themselves. “Leuk hood” is a diptych consisting of street interviews and recordings of a group of young people in an evening train. A video account of intimacy that leads to incomprehension, and the comfort of the pose.
Under the Flag | Arturas Raila – Lithuanian nationalists comment on images from Australia during the 1999 electives. On Japanese who are actually Chinese, homegrown alternatives to McDonalds, and unexpected interests in modern art.
Siren Song | Patricia Piccinini – SO1 (Synthetic Organism 1) is the worlds first fully synthetic organism. It is bacteria-like life from of which the DNA was constructed strand by strand from basic chemical elements. With So2 Piccinini gives her vision on the next stage in this extraordinary creative process. The scientific name for this new species is Excallocephala Parthenopa. Excallocephala means extremely strange head and Parthenopa refers to a siren from Greek mythology who was found dead on the shore at Naples. Nobody could say where Parthenope had come from. This is very much the case for the Siren Moles, as the SO2 creatures are commonly called. They derive from the vacuum of a sterile laboratory. But once they’ve come to live, where can they go? Perhaps out into the wilderness to sing their strange songs and begin to construct their own community.
Social Labyrinth | Klaar van der Lipper – Group identity is a difficult issue. The longing to belong is at odds with feelings of individuality. Using a simple test, the festival visitor can become acquainted with his or her own social temperament and preferred position in the social arena. The short course that Klaar van der Lippe organises to support this project offers a refreshing perspective on how one functions, as well how others do. See yourself, see humanity.
Dog & 40-15 | Annika Larsson focuses on subtle behaviours between men in which their (mutual) power relationships are expressed and sealed. These actions can be recognised as codes from the interactions between people in everyday life.
Jeroen Kooijman’s video work is characterised by a strong visual language and a simple premise. Via small interventions, his seemingly everyday images become less trivial than they initially seem. For the IMPAKT Festival, Jeroen Kooijmans developed a special video attendant who performs his normal work duties, e.g. providing information about the museum and ensuring that the visitor does not get too close to the artworks.