Anja Kirschner & David Panos
16 Sep - 29 Oct 2011
ANJA KIRSCHNER & DAVID PANOS
The Projecting Stage
16 September – 29 October, 2011
A pirates’ tale about urban gentrification (Polly II, 2006). A western movie exploring the logistics of real estate and race (Trail of the Spider, 2008). A period drama dealing with financial bubbles, criminality and the conditions of creation (The Last Days of Jack Sheppard, 2009). And a biopic analyzing the relationships between theory, practice, performance and love in crisis-ridden times (The Empty Plan, 2010). In this series of films, London-based artists Anja Kirschner & David Panos have built their own language – dealing with the representation of socio-economic issues that often seem at odds with the presupposed ‘goals’ of art.
How is it possible to explain the logics and genealogy of semiocapitalism through the ages? What is at stake in acting out / embodying political art? Kirschner & Panos use codified forms of representation such as genre movies and historical plots to give way to a sensitive and striking rendition of theoretical questions. They borrow from literary, artistic and popular culture; Sergio Corbucci’s spaghetti westerns, Hogarth and his engravings of modern mores, the history of pirates Mary Read and Anne Bonny, or Bertolt Brecht’s collaborative relationships with Helene Weigel and Ruth Berlau. The overlap between realism and staged performance in their films brings out a critique of the language of reality, experience and its representation.
Looking back at the deeds of historical figures, recalling how they behaved, how they fought and sometimes lost heart, Kirschner & Panos point out at a shadow history of the ‘artist’ and her/his role in picturing society.
The Projecting Stage
16 September – 29 October, 2011
A pirates’ tale about urban gentrification (Polly II, 2006). A western movie exploring the logistics of real estate and race (Trail of the Spider, 2008). A period drama dealing with financial bubbles, criminality and the conditions of creation (The Last Days of Jack Sheppard, 2009). And a biopic analyzing the relationships between theory, practice, performance and love in crisis-ridden times (The Empty Plan, 2010). In this series of films, London-based artists Anja Kirschner & David Panos have built their own language – dealing with the representation of socio-economic issues that often seem at odds with the presupposed ‘goals’ of art.
How is it possible to explain the logics and genealogy of semiocapitalism through the ages? What is at stake in acting out / embodying political art? Kirschner & Panos use codified forms of representation such as genre movies and historical plots to give way to a sensitive and striking rendition of theoretical questions. They borrow from literary, artistic and popular culture; Sergio Corbucci’s spaghetti westerns, Hogarth and his engravings of modern mores, the history of pirates Mary Read and Anne Bonny, or Bertolt Brecht’s collaborative relationships with Helene Weigel and Ruth Berlau. The overlap between realism and staged performance in their films brings out a critique of the language of reality, experience and its representation.
Looking back at the deeds of historical figures, recalling how they behaved, how they fought and sometimes lost heart, Kirschner & Panos point out at a shadow history of the ‘artist’ and her/his role in picturing society.