About the human condition
What does it mean to be human in the current media-driven world? What is appreciated more –materialistic commodities or spiritual values? Where is the distinction between a genuine expression of sympathy and a fake act of politeness?We are all faulty. To one extent or another. Like the goods that we surround ourselves with in order to feel momentary happiness. The faulty ones are tucked away. They have no chance for improvement. We do, it seems; yet we rarely take the leap. Too hard, too much effort, too difficult.
The title ‘About the human condition’ is a quotation from an essay by Magnus af Petersens on video artist Keren Cytter [artist] whose work is a an inspiration for this project and my own practice. It looks at the complicated concept of human nature –those cliché yet inevitable notions of love, trust, betrayal, and moral choice and exploring them through the cinematic medium. These works are touching and intimate, unsettling yet accessible.
Curated by Olga Koroleva [artist]
Artists
- Daniel O’Reilly - Schadenfreude
- Samantha Penn - Old wounds
- Jade Heritage - Laura
- Uta Baldauf - Poetry is dangerous
- Sam Hickson - Relational psychology tes..
- Tom Ketteringham - Does a Happy Meal make yo..
- Sarah Filmer - Unravel
- David Theobald - Deepest sympathy
- Christina Millare - Bathtubs and Desert Islan..
- Carla Easton - I love you so-lo
Schadenfreude (3:59, 2011) - Daniel O’Reilly
Part of the series ‘Radical Insecurity’ “My doctor told me that, err, I don’t really have any place in society. It was a bit of a shock, you know; I always felt really rather proud of my social standing, but, err, obviously it turns out t..
Old wounds (2:42, 2011) - Samantha Penn
‘Old Wounds’ is the result of an extended shoot in which improvisation and acting were set against each other. The video makes me, and hopefully others, think about the boundaries between acting and spontaneity, and the various ways in which ac..
Laura (8:47, 2011) - Jade Heritage
‘Laura’ is a monologue performed by an actress in a domestic setting, composed from recalled conversations. Selective memory creates a highly compressed and extreme fictional character. It manifests a distant yet intimate portrait of someone wh..
Poetry is dangerous (5:42, 2011) - Uta Baldauf
A girl lost in the world of books, her inner world and reality dancing on an edge. This film was inspired by a conversation about the dangers of reading philosophy and poetry. Having been almost run over by public transport, many of times, as my mind..
Relational psychology test (2:15, 2011) - Sam Hickson
We are a yielding mass susceptible and vulnerable to engulfment of modern media. Bypassing our conscious and giving rise to an internal other. This is my paradoxical freedom, “a freedom that is never more authentic than when it is within the walls of..
Does a Happy Meal make you happy? (5:05, 2011) - Tom Ketteringham
The work looks at synonymous issues within modern teenage girls including: body image, popularity and attractiveness, through the contradiction between the prevalence of fast food and the desire to be thin and attractive. The intention is to provoke ..
Unravel (8:29, 2010) - Sarah Filmer
‘Unravel’ is the story of a garment. The pale blue jumper has a trajectory through the world that acts as a metaphor for the life of any one or any thing. The jumper’s component units – the stitches that unravel before our eyes – denote u..
Deepest sympathy (4:00, 2011) - David Theobald
A biography as told through greetings cards where lifes loves, successes and tragedies can all be catered for. An impoverished narrative where an individual’s unique story is represented by a set of a pre-packaged events and standardized sentim..
Bathtubs and Desert Islands (5:23, 2010) - Christina Millare
‘Bathtubs and Desert Islands’ is inspired by my recent obsession with the ‘summer holiday’ and its mark on the calendar as a yearly means of mental and physical escape. During the making of this video I was intrigued by “found” stock film..
I love you so-lo (2:52, 2009) - Carla Easton
I Love You So-Lo’ comprises of a short filmed performance and found footage and aims to question the historical role of the performer in society, and how YouTube has proffered a platform that allows the parody performer equal status as the orig..