Alejandro Vidal
dal 18/2/2005 al 19/3/2005
Segnalato da
18/2/2005
Alejandro Vidal
Buro Empty, Amsterdam
The Pattern of Subversion. The artist will present a selection of his recent photography and video work where he analyzes issues around the aesthetics that are prior to violence and it's relation with current socio-political new panorama. The violence of the global has put an end to the social role of the intellectual, but also to the role of the activist whose fate used to be tied to the ideas of critical opposition and historical violence.
The Pattern of Subversion
"We have seen [the State war machine] set its sights on a new type of enemy, no longer another State, nor even another regime, but the 'unspecified enemy'; we have seen it put its counter-guerilla elements into place, so that it can be caught by surprise once, but not twice... Yet the conditions that make the State or World war machine possible, in other words constant capital (resources and equipment) and human variable capital, constantly recreate unexpected possibilities for counterattack, unforeseen initiatives determining revolutionary, popular, minority, mutant machines. The definition of the Unspecified Enemy testifies to this... 'multiform, manoeuvring and omnipresent... of the moral, political, subversive or economic order, etc.,' the unassignable material Saboteur or human Deserter assuming the most diverse forms."
Deleuze and Guattari
Nomadology: The War Machine. New York: 1986. pp. 119-120
We are pleased to announce Alejandro Vidal first solo exhibition at Buro Empty. He will presents a selection of his recent photography and video work where he analyzes issues around the aesthetics that are prior to violence and it’s relation with current socio-political new panorama.
The violence of the global has put an end to the social role of the intellectual (an idea tied to the Enlightenment and universalization), but also to the role of the activist whose fate used to be tied to the ideas of critical opposition and historical violence.
Free from its former enemies, humanity now has to create enemies from within, which in fact produces a wide variety of inhuman metastases.
Alejandro Vidal negotiates within this framework developing a controversial core of work that has brought him to an influential position in the current contemporary art geography.
...‘’The research on Vidal is not about the representation of violence but on its deconstruction: in a kind of “anatomy†of its representation. In Vidal’s works the mise-en-scène of violence takes possession of the codes found in mass media, advertising and in films. The image in itself is not important, the importance lies in the ideological context and its interpretation.
What sense does it make, in fact, to show a sample like Vidal’s, made up of kids in ski masks, urban tribes and hang-outs, Punk music and culture, martial arts manuals, Rave and Techno scenes, stopping their subversive capacities and reducing them to a mixture of pleasure and terror? It isn’t just by chance that in the video “You can’t scratch that way without the record falling off†(2004) the punches of an old boxer are alternated with that of a young drum player within the same sequence which, in both cases, demonstrates the suspicion of the absence of an adversary on which to focus...’’
Marco Scotini ‘A pas de Loup’ catalogue, msub, Belgrade, 2004
Alejandro Vidal (Palma de Mallorca, Spain, 1972) Lives and works in Barcelona.
Vidal’s work is concerned with issues that address social conflict, activism, self-defence, and violence. His practice involves several mediums such as photography, video, drawing and installation. Vidal sees his work as a wicked exercise that examines today’s society’s state of mind. In the last years he has been investigating aesthetic positions prior to the act of violence.
Alejandro Vidal work has been widely exhibited internationally.
Recent exhibitions include ‘Protecting Idols’ ADN Galeria, Barcelona, A pas de Loup, Museum of Contemporary Art, Belgrade, curated by Branko Dimitrijevic. ‘Un tiro a todos los Diablos’ Artra , Milano, Italy curated by Marco Scotini; ‘Personne n’est Innocent’ Le Confort Moderne, Poitiers,France.curated by Damien Airault; ‘Working Class Today ..Tomorrow Nuevos Ricos’ KBB, Barcelona ; ADN1 , ADN Galeria, Barcelona,Spain
He has previously shown at “In the Company of Enemies†GalerÃa T4, Barcelona. Spain; “We are not afraid†VTO Gallery, London. UK; Promising Young Boys’ Konstakuten. Stockholm, Sweden; ‘Exercises in Self-Protection’ Espacio Tres, Mexico DF curated by Francisca Rivero Lake; Liste 03, Basel. Stand VTO Gallery; ‘En sus Trece’ ADN Galeria, Barcelona; ‘Scan Around’ Kordergarda Gallery. Warsaw Electronic Festival, Poland;‘Controlled Revolution 4’, Vecchio Hospedale Soave, Codogno; ‘Exploraciones’ La Capella ,Barcelona ,Spain Curated by Manuel Olveira; ‘Contested Space’ Stazione Leopolda, Firenze, Italy, curated by Marco Scotini.
Opening: 19/02/2005 17’00-20’00h
BURO EMPTY - Willemsparkweg, 17 - 1071 GP Amsterdam