DIERK SCHMIDT: IMAGE LEAKS – Zur Bildpolitik der Ressource
11 Mar - 08 May 2011
„Ich weiß was... was Du nicht weißt... When opinion becomes an occasion for calculation” (Detail), 2001/2006 Arbeit in mehreren Teilen und einem ausgelegten Text / Work in several parts and accompanied by a text © VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2011 Courtesy the artist
„Questionaire to H. von Pierer“ (Detail), 1998 © VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2011 Courtesy the artist and Sammlung Harrie Kolen
DIERK SCHMIDT
IMAGE LEAKS – On the Image Politics of Resources
March 11 – May 8, 2011
Press Preview/ Opening: March 10, 2011
The exhibition by Dierk Schmidt combines recent work and thematically related older pieces to create a focal image of contemporary economic-political relationships. A core question explored in Schmidt’s practice is how artistic images can address everyday political events and their historical legacy. Above and beyond the simple depiction of historical events he is interested in an expanded definition of historical painting, i.e. a constant tracking of historical references in the present. Through installation-based painting series and text-based works he explores the possibilities of critical painting. Schmidt considers his painting a medium that serves as a point of argument with the potential to reveal conflicting interests.
The starting point for many of Schmidt’s projects are the conditions of
artistic production before the backdrop of broader economic and political interrelationships. Often, he focuses on the production of images and the accompanying image politics of governments, multinational companies, or media conglomerates, which he views as the successors to the past century’s forms of state representation. The newly produced work, “IMAGE LEAKS – On the Image Politics of Resources” raises the questions if and how artistic image strategies can be used to counter the kind of image politics pursued by the multinational oil company BP after the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. In his approach Schmidt confirms that the comparative, analytical representations of various competing image campaigns – that of BP, the oil company’s opponents, and also the US government – ultimately interfere with the “brand washing”
of BP.
The exhibition by Dierk Schmidt is made possible by the Stiftung Kunstfonds.
IMAGE LEAKS – On the Image Politics of Resources
March 11 – May 8, 2011
Press Preview/ Opening: March 10, 2011
The exhibition by Dierk Schmidt combines recent work and thematically related older pieces to create a focal image of contemporary economic-political relationships. A core question explored in Schmidt’s practice is how artistic images can address everyday political events and their historical legacy. Above and beyond the simple depiction of historical events he is interested in an expanded definition of historical painting, i.e. a constant tracking of historical references in the present. Through installation-based painting series and text-based works he explores the possibilities of critical painting. Schmidt considers his painting a medium that serves as a point of argument with the potential to reveal conflicting interests.
The starting point for many of Schmidt’s projects are the conditions of
artistic production before the backdrop of broader economic and political interrelationships. Often, he focuses on the production of images and the accompanying image politics of governments, multinational companies, or media conglomerates, which he views as the successors to the past century’s forms of state representation. The newly produced work, “IMAGE LEAKS – On the Image Politics of Resources” raises the questions if and how artistic image strategies can be used to counter the kind of image politics pursued by the multinational oil company BP after the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. In his approach Schmidt confirms that the comparative, analytical representations of various competing image campaigns – that of BP, the oil company’s opponents, and also the US government – ultimately interfere with the “brand washing”
of BP.
The exhibition by Dierk Schmidt is made possible by the Stiftung Kunstfonds.