Category Archives: contemporary art

Internet Censorship and Gangnam Style

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First, there was Gangnam Style by PSY, a Pop song celebrating/lampooning a wealthy South Korean lifestyle. It is absurd, catchy, and quickly became an international sensation. Then Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei did a parody of this already ridiculous video. Except when he mimics the dancing of the original video, he occasionally adds handcuffs.

Anish Kapoor, bringing in other art world influentials, felt compelled to make another Gangnam Style parody in support of Ai Weiwei. Museums, galleries, and others such as MoMA and Sepertine Gallery have all joined in contributing a video clip as a gesture of support for the artist who has notoriously battled with Chinese authorities over making and showing his art. And it is awesome.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcjFzmWLEdQ 

Hopefully it will be spread the message of the need for human rights and freedom of expression in China. (And not just China, as you can see in the video, the wall also has a Pussy Riot tag among others.) Internet censorship is one of the issues that Ai Weiwei combats, managing to effectively skirt “the Great Firewall.” Check out Ai Weiwei’s Youtube channel for more insight into a complex and radically different world, such as this video.

However, it isn’t as simple as pointing a finger at China.

The Google Blog just released the most recent transparency report with statistics showing governmental requests for user data and how the number has steadily risen. Russia, formerly quite open, has begun to take measures limiting internet freedom in the manner of China, according to this Economist article. And the New York Times published a fascinating opinion piece last week about how it is not only active government censorship impacts people’s access to the internet, but also supposedly liberal corporations who now dominate our experience of the internet, like Google, through the conservatively geared algorithms they use to direct search engine traffic. This invisible and pervasive force also shapes our experience of the web, and thus our culture.

Vitaly Pushnitsky at Deak Erika Gallery

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Installation View

I found the black and white paintings of St. Petersburg-based artist Vitaly Pushnitsky, currently up at Deak Erika Gallery in Budapest,  too  lovely not to share. They manage to be impressionistic without the blurry Gerard Richter newspaper feel that is so common. The tondo format suggests a religious or classical aspect, but the subject matter is the street, trash, or mechanical objects. This traditional treatment gives importance to contemporary scenes we don’t consider beautiful on a daily basis.

The small collages literally cut up renaissance frescoes and sculptures, reworking traditional art historical treatments into a contemporary point of view. The idea of cutting historical images into three-dimensional objects is familiar from the past few years of New York art fairs, but it is effective. Here this Baroque church interior seems to have a swastika cut out of it. Certainly a loaded combination of imagery.

More than anything I love how he paints, and I can certainly share his fascination with art history. I read this commentary on his work that I think summarizes my feelings as well:

“Pushnitsky works in a wide range of genres, from oil painting to video art. His style often blends contemporary and classical imagery: chubby-cheeked cherubim appear near capsized automobiles, bulldozers dismantle Romanesque ruins and sculptures emerge out of styrofoam packaging. It’s been interpreted as postmodern – and as just plain kitsch. But the artist’s technical skill is undeniable, especially in painting.”

 

High Voltage photography of Dezső Szabó

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I caught photographer Dezső Szabó’s show “High Voltage” just before it closed at Trafó, and I’m glad I didn’t miss it despite being underwhelmed with the images I saw on the internet. In person however, the large-format, square photographs are fantastically evocative and clear compositions.  The staged vacuum around the lightning and the hyper-pigmentation makes you question the source of the image, and the black borders make you doubly aware that it is a photograph being presented as a photograph. Szabó creates his images in a large, enclosed box with many tools and apparatuses that mock the effect of natural phenomena. More images of the photographs and video on Trafó’s website here.

From the exhibition text:

“The artist is obsessively searching for possibilities of creating and re-creating reality with his photos, which are shots made about modelled views, which are constructed with simulational techniques. Dezső Szabó’s images are focusing on the documentary nature of photography, and the photos themselves speak about the modus operandi of the medium.

In order to create this imagery, the artist has been modelling various physical phenomena with the use of smoke machines, water circulators, and pyrotechnics. The latest images were also taken in laboratory conditions with the help of a custom-made Tesla-transformator, which creates electric discharges, which are smaller but similar phenomena as the thunderbolts of summer storms.”