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power & contemporary
art
From politics to mass media, the theme of power pervades
daily life and is reflected in the ideas and concerns of contemporary
artists. The Art:21 documentary “Power”
explores the work of the artists Cai Guo-Qiang,
Laylah Ali, Krzysztof Wodiczko,
and Ida Applebroog, and concludes with
an original video artwork by Teresa Hubbard /
Alexander Birchler.
special features
See a slideshow of artworks showcased in the “Power” episode, watch
a video preview of the show, or explore a slideshow of artists from
multiple seasons of Art:21 discussing the theme of power in their
work.
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program
9: power
The artists in “Power” challenge authority,
oppression, and control. Each artist humanizes difficult issues
by acting as a witness to violence, working to heal communities,
or achieving a balance between constructive and destructive energies.
Introduced by actor and comedian, David Alan
Grier, “Power” is shot on location in New York,
New York; Washington, D.C.; São Paolo, Brazil; North Adams,
Massachusetts; Williamstown, Massachusetts; Cambridge, Massachusetts;
Boston, Massachusetts; Hiroshima, Japan; Tijuana, Mexico; and Austin,
Texas. |
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VIDEO:
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Introduction by David
Alan Grier |
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| “My work is sometimes
like the poppy flower. It has this almost romantic side, but yet
it also represents a poison,” says Cai
Guo-Qiang,
who harnesses the explosive power of gunpowder to create epic works
that are born in violent on-site acts of performance. For his show "Inopportune" at MASS MoCA, Cai
explores catastrophe, pain and the meaning of terrorism in the
world since September 11th with an installation of tumbling cars
that follow a path through the air. In neighboring galleries, a
video imagines a car bomb in Times Square and a series of stuffed
tigers pierced by arrows elicits a disturbing, visceral reaction. “Behind
all this is a very earnest and frank look at our society today,” says
Cai. |
| VIDEO:
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"Inopportune: Stage One" |
| VIDEO:
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"Inopportune: Stage Two" |
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| Working in extremely detailed
paintings that take months to create, Laylah
Ali combines cartoon and folkloric aesthetics to explore
notions of ethnicity and social violence. “I think when people
say violence, oftentimes, we think of the violent act,” says
Ali. “I’m
more interested in what happens before and after.” In her
studio, Ali demonstrates the tricky process of working with
gouache on paper
and speculates that the physiological effects of color and light
on the eye may have real social effects. “Could racism be
just attributed to bizarre visual phenomenon? There’s a question.” Control,
a theme in much of Ali’s
work, also informs her own creative process. She admits, “So
much of the work is about me trying to control it...and yet it
still defies me.” |
| VIDEO:
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Newspaper Clippings |
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Reading, Writing & Drawing |
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| Through grand scale
audio-video projects in public spaces, Krzysztof
Wodiczko transforms
national monuments and architectural façades into “bodies” as
he collaborates with communities to get people to “break
the code of silence, to open up and speak about what’s unspeakable.” Born
of a Jewish mother who escaped the ghetto in World War II
Poland, Wodiczko has been deeply affected by the devastation of
war and violence all his life. In Hiroshima, he works with tearful
survivors of the atomic bomb, helping them “to open up and
share with the world what is so painful” through a commemorative
projection. In Tijuana, he projects the faces of women onto the
spherical façade of the city’s cultural center as
they tell detailed stories of being abused. |
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| True to her fiercely independent
spirit, Ida Applebroog invented her
own last name. In similar fashion, her diverse body of work defies
labels,
spanning a dizzying array of media including drawings, paintings,
books, photographs, sculptures, and installations. The constant
that emerges is a trenchant social commentary expressed through
images culled from mass media. “It’s hard to say
what your work is about” she says, “but for me,
it’s
about how power works: male over female, parents over children,
governments over people, doctors over patients.” Her work
skews ordinary images into anxious scenarios infused with irony
and black humor. Once “computer illiterate,” Applebroog
recently decided to embrace technology and now creates enormous
photographic
prints. |
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| Each episode for Season
Three concludes with an original work of video art by the artists
Teresa Hubbard / Alexander Birchler.
Known for their haunting video projections, Hubbard and Birchler’s
work alters temporal, cinematic and architectural expectations of
the viewer through the use of looping narratives. For Art:21, their
first commission for television, they have created a series of beautiful
and enigmatic short films. Each film uses the same setting—the
interior of a police car at night—and begins when one officer
brings a cup of coffee for another. Using recurring and non-recurring
characters, interrelated dialogue, and ambient sound, the suite
of films evoke not only the Season Three themes of Power, Memory,
Structures and Play, but also sleep, dreams and longing. |
| VIDEO:
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"Night Shift: Perfect"
(Commissioned for: “Power”) |
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