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2020_Fairuza

ABOUT bent

This is Beeld & Taal at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie Amsterdam.
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Overview

Overview

2017 June (assessments)

2017 June (assessments)
Are you ready?

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Are you ready?

Are you ready for the launch? Are you ready for the launch? Are you ready for the launch? Are you ready for the launch? Are you ready for the launch? Are you ready for the launch? Are you ready for the launch? Are you ready for the launch? Are you ready for the launch? Are you ready for the launch? Are you ready for the launch? Are you ready for the launch? Are you ready for the launch? Are you ready for the launch? Are you ready for the launch? Are you ready for the launch? Are you ready for the launch? Are you ready for the launch? Are you ready for the launch? Are you ready for the launch? Are you ready for the launch? Are you ready for the launch? Are you ready for the launch? Are you ready for the launch? Are you ready for the launch? Are you ready for the launch? Are you ready for the launch? Are you ready for the launch? Are you ready for the launch? Are you ready for the launch? Are you ready for the launch? Are you ready for the launch? Are you ready for the launch? Are you ready for the launch? Are you ready for the launch? Are you ready for the launch? Are you ready for the launch? Are you ready for the launch? Are you ready for the launch? Are you ready for the launch? Are you ready for the launch? Are you ready for the launch? Are you ready for the launch? Are you ready for the launch? Are you ready for the launch? Are you ready for the launch? Are you ready for the launch? Are you ready for the launch? Are you ready for the launch? Are you ready for the launch? Are you ready for the launch?

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shake hands

                              touch each other

                                                                           blocked

                                                                                               homebound
                                      Soft power – Hard results 

Killing one to preserve the other, an ethical issue which no one wishes to be responsible for. The human choice of who has to die and when, is a reality in the book ‘Natural Preservatives’. Up until this day it is possible to find situations where such heavy questions are handled without creating a ruse. This power can be embodied by different factors, such as food, media and healthcare. Then, where does art fit into all of this?


The environment in which we are determines our behavior and expectations. So, if one is in control of the environment, one is by that standard in control of the people in that environment. Influencing the production of food, what news is covered by media and job-based healthcare systems can be used to control the population. Comfort and/or habit makes these controlling factors indispensable. This is an example of bio-politics. Bio-politics is where human biology and politics meet, a certain political intelligence. Together they take subject in management of public affairs and the population in surrounding districts. No physical force is hereby used, which provides the illusion of free choice for the people. The aim is to quote Foucault; ‘to ensure, sustain and multiply life, to put this life in order.’


Let’s assume for a moment that a nation has the moral code of valuing the lives of the elderly. In this case it can be said that being able to take care of the elderly ergonomically is a display of power. It is seen as an act that only well-off nations can permit financially. This care becomes a necessity for the populous and providing it a mandatory element within a nation. When expenses are re-evaluated and need to be diminished, the problems start.

This nation’s display of power has developed through the ages. Fear tactics, torture or the death penalty from the past have been replaced with knowledge, scientific discovery or drone-based weaponry. Any form of display of power, is an attempt to exhibit the stature of that nation. By this argument, culture and social constructs that put a nation higher in the ranking has become a major power-tool.


A lesser thought of power-tool for a leader could be art. A leader with beneficial actions for a certain group may have a hidden agenda concerning others, malicious intent is covered up by seemingly positive ideas. People that object can easily be brushed off as conspiracy theorists. But who would use art as a subject of control, something that stands for self-expression and beauty? This doesn’t sound plausible. But think of movies, music and all other media. The less a power tool stands out as a weapon of control the better its chances of success. To have any influence on a matter, the power structure should be first defined.


Art is put in an environment and presented in a way that directs the populous to a certain behavior and perhaps a certain way of thinking. Museums, white-cubes, pedestals, books, these factors are all used to frame a work. A museum is a place where objects are exhibited. Exhibition is not the only purpose of framing a work in a special place. It also functions as packaging of something greater, the country where it takes place. Not in a literal way, but as a symbol. In The Exhibitionary Complex, Tony Bennett shows how museums function as symbols of power, greatness, wealth and progress. Additionally, Bennett suggests that the visitors of a museum are exposed to an environment where vandalism and misconduct is frowned upon, which makes the audience obedient. Bennett discribes this phenomenon - the exhibitionary complex - as a way for a country or any governing society to establish order, connecting it to Foucault’s panopticism.


With progress comes change and Bennett argues how museums and exhibitions in the West emerged as a new form of power display during the 19th century. He writes, ‘It was a response to the problem of order, but one which worked differently in seeking to transform that problem into one of culture a question of winning hearts and minds as well as the disciplining and training of bodies.’



                 The internet
              is an archive
                             covered
       by an invisible                                           
                veil.
                          Solve to unveil.
                   +++crosswords+++
                       Following Foucault and Bennet, population control through art, is also a form of bio-politics. Exhibiting objects in a white cube or museum drives the eye to believe the objects must be of high quality. For example the work of Cy Twombly, which resembles children’s scribbles, is being sold for millions. which also shows that monetary value doesn’t equal quality or skill.


On the other hand artworks with anti-governmental or eccentric ideas that are being demonized. Every revolution starts with an idea. Many books have been banned and burned, paintings boycotted or destroyed for this reason.
Underlying this is another form of power: that of cognitive bias: if an expert has a certain opinion, that opinion must be more credible than that of a non-expert. If the expert is corruptible, the expert is no longer objective, this could lead the mass in a beneficial way for the corruptor.


Bio-politics is not only used by skewed politicians, but also by benevolent leaders, the education system, companies and the cultural industry. These elements all have a great impact on one’s daily life. Now then, it is clear that art can be a powerful force. In the past art has been used as propaganda or as a scream for help from the populous. Think of ‘El 3 de mayo en Madrid’ by Francisco Goya or all the pro-war posters during the First and Second World War. In this way the government or the populous (artists) can steer the art that is being made and exhibited in museums, white cubes or any other platform to influence public opinion on matters of life and death.


In Natural Preservatives one is made to wonder if the invisible power that controls the duration of one's life is real or not. If it is not seen by others, does it exist? Can one sole perceiver be enough to make a certain concept real, and what is the power of the mind in all of this? Still this seemingly invisible aspect has control over the way people think. Like we’ve seen, before one can see what is going on, one has to see the power that is at hand and define the power structure before doing anything else.


Natural Preservatives tries to point out this necessity and hints at an unpopular solution: to prematurely stamp out the elderly population through a gentle façade of a sweet little town and it’s equally sweet Dorothy’s Pies. This is not proposing to wipe out a certain population, but to highlight a topic that is rarely talked about: the topic of old-age, quality of life versus quantity and death. Meanwhile the story poses as an object in a white cube.


If art is indeed a power-tool, it can be used just like any other display of power. Art can change minds and show hidden truths, it can also do the opposite: manipulate and control effortlessly by making the viewer think a certain way and lifting an unseen vail. Nudging the perceiver in a certain course to perceive the same phenomenon in a different way. There are also artists that omit partaking in the power struggle and focus on art as something without a cause, pure self-expression, free from any agenda. But since power can be corrupt, the question maintains: what will you do with yours?
                       After the rain comes the digital universe.

                         Read me
                       Connected
                  by barely anything, we exist.

              Having only a fraction of a second
                                               to chime.




                       I am an anti-hero
                         Your phone is ringing...you should                              pick it up.
                               Maybe listen for a while...