31.5.-2.6.2012

Bernhard Bischoff & Partner / Videokunst.ch an der LOOP Video Art Fair Barcelona:

www.loop-barcelona.com

Costantino Ciervo

In his facinating video instalations Costantino Ciervo grapples with the existance of the human being in todays society, the applied economic systems, the rapid regional and global developments and possible strategies of liberation. He’s also concerned with actual themes such as the revolution in the fields of science, technological and genetic research, computer science, communication technology, terrorism, as well as ethics and complexity. In the search for answers to his fundamental questions, his work testifies from a deep altercation with humanity and the systems it creates. However, he does not do this in an accusatory or provocational way, but rather by deconstructing and questioning with a poignant and moving visual language that swings between challenging, declamatory, and pleasant aesthetical moments. To get his message across he utilises, in a very subtle way, video and computer technology (both hard and software), which he repeatedly combines with other elements such as photos and objects.

www.ciervo.org

A boy and a girl, two seven year olds who have just started school, are alternately reading aloud twelve selected quotes taken from Milton Friedman’s ‚Capitalism and Freedom‘, Chicago 1962, the milestone publication of liberal economy. The seven year old children are only just learning how to read and are beginning to develop an awareness through education. Though unable to yet grasp the ideological content of Milton Friedman’s major work, the children subconsciously aim to read the passages ‚correctly.‘ Die Kinder wirken “altklug”, geben vor, etwas zu verstehen, das sie gar nicht verstehen können. Die Arbeit erinnert an gehaltlose Phrasen von Politikern oder Managern; die Frage nach dem Begreifen von Worthülsen wird manifest. Eine wunderbare Metapher über das Funktionieren unserer komplexen Welt.