Banned from the Guggenheim: Sun Yuan and Peng Yu’s controversial video
Sun Yuan and Peng Yu – Dogs Which Cannot Touch Each Other, 2003, 8 Bull Terriers, 8 Running Machines Without Drive
Introduction
The video work titled Dogs That Cannot Touch Each Other has only recently been removed from Guggenheim Museum’s exhibition series known as Art and China after 1989: Theater of the World. The video series has been met with disapproval and disparagement not only by some art critics but animal lovers and welfare organizations as well. Critics claim that the exhibition would have featured a series of various distinct video presentations depicting instances of unmistakable and unacceptable animal cruelty in the name of art.
Sun Yuan and Peng Yu – Dogs Which Cannot Touch Each Other, 2003, 8 Bull Terriers, 8 Running Machines Without Drive
Uncontrollable destruction when Superflex flood McDonald’s
Superflex – Flooded McDonald’s, 2009, Paris, Ferme du Buisson, France
In this short film a life size replica of a McDonald’s burger bar gets flooded with water gradually. There are images of furniture being washed away in the water, food floating around the room, and electric appliances short circuit to a halt before space can no longer be seen below the water. While the production lacks the typical disaster drama, it does not fall under artistic film production or documentary. ‘Flooded McDonald’s’ is an insight into the role those big multinationals need to play in the face of disaster. First shown at a gallery in 2010 in South London, the film is the brain work of a group of Danish artists called Superflex.
The group built their idea from scratch; first singling out McDonald’s as the largest fast food restaurant in the world before they recreated a McDonald’s as it might have looked in the 1980s. Why the 80s? The group thought that an image of how an outlet looked like at the time would be most iconic. The function of water was not only meant to illustrate destruction but also to cause the various components within it to come to life. Creation of the film began in 2008 at a time when numerous post-apocalyptic scenarios were going on. The film no doubt focus on serious issues but viewers cannot help laughing at the lack of control of food as it gets washed away with the water.
Superflex has been doing similar projects since the group was constituted in 1993 with members Rasmus Nielsen, Bjørnstjerne Christiansen, and Jacob Fenger. In all their projects, they aim to develop tools with which their audience can use to model their own circumstances. They have done projects on ‘Free Beer’, ‘Guaraná Power’ and installations and film. Most of their projects center on self-organization, democratic conditions, and economic forces. Since these are common issues in many parts of the world, Superflex and their projects have found international recognition. Some of the most spectacular exhibitions they have held in renowned venues are Schirn Kunsthalle in Frankfurt am Main, REDCAT Gallery in Los Angeles, and the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington D.C.
Art must reflect real life and while McDonald’s might not suffer the catastrophe that is showcased in this film, the art work opens up the minds of people to destruction especially that which we can control.
Video (excerpt) of Superflex – Flooded McDonald’s, 2009
Video (interview) with Superflex about Flooded McDonald’s, 2009
Superflex – Still of Flooded McDonald’s, 2009
Superflex – Still of Flooded McDonald’s, 2009
Superflex – Still of Flooded McDonald’s, 2009
Superflex – Still of Flooded McDonald’s, 2009
Superflex – Installation view of Flooded McDonald’s, 2009, Peter Blum Gallery, New York
Superflex – Installation view of Flooded McDonald’s, 2009, Peter Blum Gallery, New York
Superflex – Installation view of Flooded McDonald’s, 2009, Peter Blum Gallery, New York
Superflex – Installation view of Flooded McDonald’s, 2009, Peter Blum Gallery, New York
Veiled women in their traditional Islamic attire – Shirin Neshat
Shirin Neshat – Rapture, 1999, gelatin silver print, 108×171.5cm
Introduction
Rapture is a projection of black and white video where Iranian artist Shirin Neshat gives a narrative that concerns the differences between Muslim women and men. Neshat has used the video projection to explore the cultural and social role of women in the Islamic World and shot the work in Morocco with a cast that included hundreds of participants.
One of the most disgusting performance pieces ever made – Zhang Huan
Zhang Huan – 12 Square Meters, 1994, single channel video, 3min 2sec, documentation of a 40-minute performance
Introduction
Zhang Huan is no stranger to controversy. Having attended school at a time when China was undergoing a dramatic time in its history, Zhang learned a lot from the years of protests and demonstrations that would be staged in front of the Tiananmen Square in Beijing. As an avid fan of Avant-garde art, Zhang did not really have adequate resources at his disposal that would allow him to execute his artistic vision. As such, and not surprisingly, Zhang decided to change the way he expressed himself by adopting a more provocative and transgressive form of performance art, which was later photographed and documented.
Zhang Huan – 12 Square Meters, 1994, documentation of a 40-minute performance
Yang Fudong’s dreamlike video work situated in 1930s Shanghai
Yang Fudong – Fifth Night Part 1, 2010, 7 channel video installation, 35 mm film B & W, stereo sound, 35mm
China’s most well-known cinematographer and photographer, Yang Fudong, was born in Beijing, China, in 1971. He is also regarded by many as one of the greatest film writers to come out of China, however his creativity spans far beyond that. Yang began training in painting at the China Academy of Fine Arts in Hangzhou, and started working with film in the early 1990s. He now uses images to depict thought and experience, and he seeks to portray that anything is possible, including dreams and fantasies.
Mariko Mori speaks w/ Public Delivery: Art can unite humanity
Mariko Mori spoke with us about her work Ālaya, 2013.
About Mariko Mori
Mariko Mori’s practice explores universal questions at the intersection of life, death, reality and technology. The juxtaposition of Eastern mythology with Western culture is a common theme in Mori’s works, shown through layering photography and digital imaging, such as in her 1995 installation Birth of a Star. Later works, such as Nirvana show her as a goddess, transcending her early roles via technology and image, and abandoning realistic urban scenes for more alien landscapes. Worldwide, Mori gained recognition for her interactive installation, Wave UFO, which debuted at Kunsthaus Bregenz, in Bregenz (Austria) in 2003. The installation was subsequently shown in New York (USA) with Public Art Fund, Genoa (Italy), and was included in the 2005 Venice Biennale (Italy).
Lida Abdul seducing her audience with a defiant flag in the water
Lida Abdul, still from What We Have Overlooked, 2011, 16mm film, 3.44 min, 2 channel video installation
Lida Abdul’s two-channel work entitled What we have overlooked (2011) was first presented at dOCUMENTA (13), Kassel. She is an Afghan video and performance artist born in 1973 in Kabul. Forced to flee Afghanistan following the Russian invasion and the war that followed, Abdul lived as a refugee in Germany and India before settling in the US.
Most visited arts non-profit online. Established in 2011 in Seoul, South Korea. Projects in 96 countries.
