THE NETHERLANDS MEDIA ART INSTITUTE - AMSTERDAM

15 MAY - 24 JULY 2010

Artists invited: Mounira Al Solh, Keren Cytter, Shana Moulton, Hayley Silverman, Ola Vasiljeva, Emily Wardill and Nina Yuen

The exhibition Witty, lo-fi works with knotty thoughts, shows video, animation and film by Mounira Al Solh, Keren Cytter, Claire Evans, Shana Moulton, Ola Vasiljeva, Emily Wardill and Nina Yuen.

These young artists have a comparable manner of working, aesthetic and style and employ a similar ‘strategy’ for giving shape to their ideas. Among the similarities are that all are lo-fi, use humor in combination with tragedy and draw on performance. This way of working is moreover inseparably linked with the subject of the animation, video or film.

Although there are certain thematic overlaps among the various works, with ‘witty, lo-fi works with knotty thoughts’ it is precisely the approach and aesthetic of the artists that is central. The exhibition expressively places narrative works next to one another to make comparisons possible and illuminate differences. In what ways do the artists employ their lo-fi, tartly humorous, performative manner for their expressions? And how does this strategy and aesthetic lead to the subject of their work?

Multi-disciplinary artist Mounira Al Solh (Lebanon, b. 1978) presents a new video installation entitled A Double Burger and Two Metamorphoses. It is a fictitious experiment in which Al Solh enters into a dialogue with animals that she herself plays. The complex relation this Lebanese artist has with The Netherlands emerges from the installation.

Keren Cytter (Israel, b. 1977) is screening one of her latest videos, called Four Seasons. In it the artist makes use of lo-fi elements such as 'homemade aesthetic', lo-fi Hollywood glamor, lo-fi special effects and wobbly camera-work. 'Four Seasons' is an homage to everything that is fake.

In the ninth part of Whispering Pines Shana Moulton (USA, b. 1976) once again employs her alter ego Cynthia in a quest for the history of the American southwest. The main character Cynthia enters into relationships and connections with (digital) domestic objects, the lower part of her digital body and the digital environment.

Balancing on the edges of culture, new media and conceptual art, in her work Ola Vasiljeva (Latvia, b. 1981) responds to contemporary culture. The manipulation of existing material from pop and subcultures or more classic sources of inspiration is characteristic of this artist's approach. The installations have a lo-fi character and evoke a strange, surrealistic and uprooted feeling.

In the 16 mm film Sick Serena and Dregs and Wreck and Wreck Emily Wardill (UK, b. 1977) mixes close-ups of English stained glass panels with imaginary tales on universal themes. The episodes have a theatrical, almost carnivalesque sense to them and the humorous, exaggerated actions create perplexity. The work examines the historic power of images and stories.

Nina Yuen (Hawaii, b. 1981) produces playful and associative video works that are a combination of performance and collage. The artist uses stage sets to create an imaginary world in which she places (sometimes fictitious) personal memories and collective truths (and untruths)next to one another. Yuen is presenting a new installation in this exhibition.

http://nimk.nl/eng/witty-lo-fi-works-with-knotty-thoughts