Chantal Akerman
Judith Barry
Thomas Bayrle
Nol Burch
Shirley Clarke
Ingemo Engstr�m
Harun Farocki
Morgan Fisher
Penelope Georgiou
Jack Goldstein
Angela Hareiter
Derek Jarman
Isaac Julien
Rainer Kirberg
Malcolm LeGrice
Mark Lewis
Babette Mangolte
Mark Nash
Nagisa Oshima
Ulrike Ottinger
Karl Sierek
Jean-Marie Straub
Dani le Huillet
Elisabeth Subrin
Michael Snow
Nomeda and Gediminas Urbonas
Oscar Zarate
Constanze Ruhm
The exhibition Fate of Alien Modes charts a terrain emerging at the intersection of artistic and cinematic models and discourses. It foregrounds different forms of representation generated by each respective practice, to render visible the mechanisms operating within.
curated by Constanze Ruhm
Press conference: Friday, May 9, 2003 at 11 a.m.
Opening: Friday, May 9, 2003 at 7 p.m.
Chantal Akerman, Judith Barry, Thomas Bayrle, No�l Burch, Shirley Clarke,
Ingemo Engstr�m, Harun Farocki, Morgan Fisher, Penelope Georgiou, Jack
Goldstein, Angela Hareiter, Derek Jarman, Isaac Julien, Rainer Kirberg,
Malcolm LeGrice, Mark Lewis, Babette Mangolte, Mark Nash, Nagisa Oshima,
Ulrike Ottinger, Karl Sierek, Jean-Marie Straub/Dani�le Huillet, Elisabeth
Subrin, Michael Snow, Nomeda and Gediminas Urbonas, Oscar Zarate
The exhibition Fate of Alien Modes charts a terrain emerging at the
intersection of artistic and cinematic models and discourses. It
foregrounds different forms of representation generated by each respective
practice, to render visible the mechanisms operating within. The cinematic
apparatus is understood as an economy unfolding into a spatiality of
different modes of production, thus allowing for a changed perspective on
art. The shift from being �on cinema� to drawing on an economy illuminates
and recollects the structures, forces, and subjects at work in the
relations between society, cinema, and culture.
Fate of Alien Modes spatializes the cinematic field to reveal it as a set
of running scripts. Instead of conflating art and cinema within the
conventions of projection spaces and mini cinemas only, the exhibition
focuses on dynamic scripting processes to subvert the notion of finished
and self-contained artworks. Thus it highlights different modes of
production versus the concept of the Secession as a mere exhibition hall
and repository for art works. The institutional container is rendered as
tenuous construction and �spatial narrative.�
Fate of Alien Modes reflects on the differences between cinemas and art
institutions by linking a set of fields and methods to register the unique
distinctions of production formats pertaining to cinematic and art
practices. The exhibition draws on the established dialogue between
modernist as well as avant-garde cinema and art, thus avoiding the
re-institutionalization of cinema as an instrument of power within the art
context. The project attempts to unravel the history of the interrelations
between modernism and cinema, which inside of art spaces often remain
safely interred within a �cinema nostalgia�, to highlight contemporary
discourses on the play and conflict of the forces at work between
spectator, projection, and screen.
A number of contributions were generated in dialogues between curator and
invited artists/producers to develop commissions and new works oriented
along suggested plot points. For many of the internationally renowned
artists and contributors it is a first-time presentation in a Vienna
institutional context. Besides film and video installations, Fate of Alien
Modes combines interactive sound pieces, performative processes and
indexical materials with specifically commissioned contributions
pertaining to script-based formats and stage/set architecture. The works
included in the exhibition are either related to aspects of "screen" (as
architecture) and "script" (as dynamic text), or record and investigate
the visual, acoustic and narrative spaces emerging in between.
Constanze Ruhm
SECESSION
Friedrichstrasse 12
A-1010 Vienna
T: +43 1 587 5307