|
A Cryptome DVD is offered by Cryptome. Donate $25 for a DVD of the Cryptome 11-years archives of 41,000 files from June 1996 to June 2007 (~4.4 GB). Click Paypal or mail check/MO made out to John Young, 251 West 89th Street, New York, NY 10024. Archives include all files of cryptome.org, jya.com, cartome.org, eyeball-series.org and iraq-kill-maim.org. Cryptome offers with the Cryptome DVD an INSCOM DVD of about 18,000 pages of counter-intelligence dossiers declassified by the US Army Information and Security Command, dating from 1945 to 1985. No additional contribution required -- $25 for both. The DVDs will be sent anywhere worldwide without extra cost. |
12 June 2007
Date: Mon, 11 Jun 2007 15:33:54 +0200
From: Ana Peraica <ana.peraica[at]st.htnet.hr>
To: nettime-l[at]bbs.thing.net
Subject: <nettime> War profiteers in art (Biennale di Venezia, 2007)
Came back from Venice
First come those that sell bullets, then journalists, then grave-diggers
and buildings mafia, finally there is the art-world and the movie
production, some make money - the other careers
Ana Peraica
How is it possible that one of two this year's biggest events, Biennale
di Venezia shows images of wars under an unclear concept of "pensa con
sensi -- sente con la mente," being in the same year a Bosnian city in
which European largest massacre after the WW2 is fighting for its pride
and not even mentioning it? Is Den Haag's coldness for the suffering of
Srebrenica and the whole selection of the Biennale indicating the same
symptom? War tourism accompanied with role-playing of victims and
general moral irresponsibility, spectacle of indolence…
*
Caught between thoughts of Susan Sontag, analyzing images of war in the
peace societies, its perverse enjoying of distant deaths that actually
make them feel more secure and Baudrillard who has turned even Sontag's
pacifism into the critique of pathetic standpoint in the text on
Sarajevo, as actually Sontag went to write there, I am thinking again on
the role of the war reporter that has emancipated indicating a cultural
need for the distant trauma in public, and adrenaline addiction of
reporting, but also a rare profit-making of the war .Moreover, the
indolence grows, as it shows the algorithm of media and cruelty noted
once by Billwet / Adilkno: more ethereal the medium: more violent and
frequent the image of the dead. So, we see plenty of photos and videos
of graveyards, corpses… but names of artists are coming more important
than victims represented.
ART WAR PROFITEURS
To be honest, I could not see more than Arsenale show. To sum up the
Arsenale -- war, death, victims, among which of course - plenty of 11
September planes, models, toys, dead children and rarely some of
conflicts caused by the West. A colleague, Ivana Bago with whom I was
cruising the show has commented; we should have worn t-shirts with
Srebrenica's appeal. The show had made me sick, not only as I've seen
too many images of war myself, but as actually I am sick of war tourism,
especially when someone is making a career on it. It indeed reminded me
of plenty of conferences on war topics in which speakers were "caught
in war" for a day, having all kinds of bullet-protection jackets and who
had only made troubles to local police that had to cover them up instead
of taking care for children, old people and women in danger that would
not be able to escape, as these "reporters" Also, they would not be able
to earn anything for a day being in the war, as photo-reporters,
journalists and others.
Even here, rarely some artist was reporting the original experience in
the sense war being a disaster to one's life, mostly origins of artists
were countries that had not seen the war since the WW2. But, exposing
war images at Biennale is surely making them more important than all the
memories of people that had suffered for years at same places.
It is not a matter why did they went to report on the war, the matter if
they were adrenaline freaks, but what the selection entitled "think with
your feelings, feel with your mind" wanted to forward to its public?
Some more of adrenaline to the asleep Biennale public… or the indolence
that is the actual international politics showing again with the
Srebernica's case? Or it is yet another case of making a profit out of
war. As if not presented in such a context, most of these artworks would
actually be so immoral.
NO MOVIE PRODUCTION FOR SREBRENICA
So, why does then the Biennale show wants to get the picture of war --
most of which finished? And why does it not mention the only consequence
of the European wars in which a victim did not gain the place as all
other European victims? What is the difference between all presented
cases and Srebrenica? Amazingly enough this years largest fight for the
recognition of the pride of the victim has staid behind. Actually in the
art-world that is really not a problem … as, except of the work by
Šejla
Kameric', there were rarely some other ones. Srebrenica does not find
the media representation that has been given to the Holocaust throughout
the XX century or during couple of years to 11th September. Its victims
seem to be totally irrelevant.
And in this review it is not the matter of the pure curiosity but the
support that has to be given in the world in which Nazi war crimes or
terrorism of extreme Muslims
are not forgotten (yet) -- but are forwarded to whole nations and
religions, while the case of the contemporary Western crime is not even
risen to question. And that is the crime of indolence and war profit.
KILLER INSTINCTS
The only work that has actually given a critique was by Dan Perjovschi
with graffiti at the entrance of Arsenale commenting that to show in
Arsenale "must have killer instincts". The rest is to me modest -- framed
by a really bad context, the unoriginal PTSP (post-traumatic stress
syndrome). But, how do we know it is false?
It is very simple -- victims of PTSP, even when being whole cultures, are
not willing to speak on own trauma, but are closing themselves in,
feeling ashamed of what they are passing through. They rather attach
themselves to the imagery of eroticism, of life creation than to the
ones of war and death. Thatis also the reason there were rarely some
original artists from societies in war.
It is indeed strange as this has happened in the year that for the long
time the World Press Photography has given the award not showing the
death, but life in the conditions of the destruction, a youth still
being young. Something should have been learned there -- or actually it
is not the same public we are speaking about? An algorithm of the media
in war is quite simple: more life is endangered people speak on
eroticism, only CNN starts with spectacular topics of international war,
while all other national stations actually put them at the end.
So why should someone mind seeing video by Yang Zhenzhong in which ten
people say "I will die"? Do you know how many people died in Srebrenica
in real? 2000 identified 3000 for sure but even 8500 may be, they say.
But as seems none cares but war profiteers of journalism, academia or
even art, the concept of Biennale could easily be renamed into "think
for your ass, feel for your valet / art career."
http://anarchiva.blogspot.com
# distributed via <nettime>: no commercial use without
permission
# <nettime> is a moderated mailing list for net criticism,
# collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets
# more info: majordomo[at]bbs.thing.net and "info nettime-l" in the
msg body
# archive:
http://www.nettime.org
contact: nettime[at]bbs.thing.net