re:site
montréal consists of two interrelated
parts: a group exhibition of works by German artists
chosen by Felix S. Huber and Florian Wüst, and
a media arts project produced by Huber and Wüst
during their residency at OBORO. A component of the
media arts project will be installed in Carré Saint-Louis.
re:site
montréal appropriates the idea of everyday
life as a film narrative. To a large extent determined
by cinema, media and political spectacle, we perceive
and understand the world through the eyes of cultural
memory and collective imaginaries. Generally, the impact
of modern image technologies on social life represents
two sides of the same coin; on the one hand there is
the
threat of total control, and on the other hand the
potential of performance and the creation of visibility
are unleashed.
Combining photography, video, digital live projection,
newspaper edition, and network installation, the exhibition
explores the existing collusion of subjective perception
and the permanent flux of information, of public and
private spheres, reality and fiction. Other works in
the show critically reflect on the behavioral patterns
and architectural devices of power that increasingly
guide our navigation and interaction in public space.
The
media arts project situated in Carré Saint-Louis — a
public park near OBORO — broadcasts two live video
streams through the internet. These images and sounds
are automatically mixed with prefabricated recordings
and enacted scenes, both stored in a database, that match
with and expand upon the actual scene at the site. The
constantly changing audio-visual collage is played back
in real time on monitors and speakers integrated into
the structure in Carré Saint-Louis as well as
through the internet at <www.oboro.tv/resitemontreal> that
can be accessed from a computer terminal set up in OBORO’s
gallery. The ambiguous transparency of the project’s
concept creates a stage with the gaze of cameras, which
subverts
the notion of closed circuit surveillance found in any
large city in the world.
OBORO and the artists
wish to thank Monique Savoie and Luc Courchesne as well
as the SAT (Société des arts technologiques)
for their generous support of this project.
This exhibition benefitted
from the financial support of La Bavière au Québec,
the City Council of Berlin, the institut für Auslandes
beziehungen e. V. (ifa) and Pro Helvetia, the Arts Council
of Switzerland.
 |
Born in Zurich,
Felix S. Huber is an artist working with photography,
video and 3D animation. His work has
been
shown internationally, including P.S.1 Contemporary Art
Center (New York, 1994), documenta X (Kassel, 1997),
ZKM-Zentrum für Medientechnologie (Karlsruhe, 2002),
and Centre pour l’image contemporaine Saint-Gervais
(Genève,
2003). He lives in Berlin.
Born in Munich, Florian Wüst
is an artist and curator of experimental film and video
art, living in Berlin and Rotterdam. He has exhibited
in art institutions and curated for festivals such as
Tent (Rotterdam, 2000), the 48th International Short
Film Festival (Oberhausen, 2002), Frankfurter Kunstverein
(Frankfurt, 2004), and the 6th Werkleitz Biennale (Halle
[Saale], 2004).
Ulrike Feser (*1970, Bonn) studied Communication Design
and Photography at the University of Applied Sciences
Bielefeld. In 1999, she received a DAAD postgraduate
grant to travel to Hawaii. Her work
has been shown at Stichting Duende, Rotterdam (2000);
Bonner Kunstverein (2002); Haus am Waldsee (2003); Galerie
Kamm, Berlin (2003); Ursula Blickle Foundation and Frankfurter
Kunstverein (2004). She lives in Berlin.
Andrea Geyer
(*1971, Freiburg/Breisgau) is an artist who lives and
works in New York. She is a 2000 graduate of the Whitney
Museum Independent Study Program, after studying Fine
Arts and Photography in Germany. Exhibitions include
Manifesta 4, Portikus, Frankfurt (2002);
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (2003); Secession,
Vienna (2003); Kunstmuseum St. Gallen (2004); Witte de
With, Rotterdam (2005).
Corinna Schnitt (*1964, Duisburg)
is a filmmaker and artist living in Cologne. Her films
have been widely screened at festivals such as International
Short Film Festival Oberhausen, European Media Art Festival,
Osnabrück, and International
Filmfestival Rotterdam. Exhibitions include Galerie Olaf
Stüber, Berlin (2003); Kunsthalle Hamburg
(2004); Museum Het Valkhof, Nijmegen (2004); O.K Center
for Contemporary Art, Linz (2005).
Wolfgang Staehle (*1950,
Stuttgart) has been living in New York since 1976. In
1991, he founded THE THING, an independent media project
which began as a bulletin board system (BBS) and became
one of the seminal forums for net-art. His work has been
shown at Kunsthalle Vienna (2001); transmediale.02,
Berlin (2002); Fondation Cartier pour L'Art Contemporain,
Paris (2003); Tate Modern, London (2004).
Unmovie is an internet project created in 2002 by Axel
Heide, onesandzeros, Philip Pocock and Gregor Stehle.
The presentation of this interactive network installation
changes with each exhibition.
Unmovie has been shown
at ZKM - Zentrum für Medientechnologie,
Karlsruhe (2002); Wood Street Galleries, Pittsburgh (2003);
Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki (2003); DEAF
Festival, Rotterdam (2004). http://www.unmovie.net |
