In the loop: Contemporary EU video art
Video screenings

June 9-12, 2010
American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center, The Phillips Collection, National Portrait Gallery
Washington DC

The cultural program of the Spanish Presidency of the Council of the European Union has recently conducted a European video art competition to showcase the latest films and artists from the EU. Each country was invited to submit three short videos for selection by a jury composed of judges from the American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center, The Phillips Collection and the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery, as well as artist Jefferson Pinder. The museums screened the selections June 9-12.

The pre-selection of Slovene three short videos was made by SCCA-Ljubljana. Ida Hiršenfelder, assistant of video programs and Diva Station archive, pre-selected video works by Tomaž Furlan (Wear VII, 3 min 30 sec, 2008), Nika Oblak & Primož Novak (Shund,
2 min 23 sec, 2008) and Maja Slavec (Woman Beauty Power Less, 4 min 40 sec, 2008).

For the video screening at the American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center on June 9 Tomaž Furlan’s video Wear VII was selected.

Tomaž Furlan: Wear VII

In the series of seven artistic studio video performances Wear I-VII the artist becomes a human sculpture – a cyborg. He dresses himself in a massive concrete sculpture element that burden and constrain his movement. In these “wear” he then performs with utter difficulties and body tensions everyday repetitive movements and little errands. Despite this constrained movement the actions seem quite humorous. In the movements we would recognize the paradox of everyday routine and our absurd dependence on the apparatuses that were suppose to make our daily work easier like computers, televisions, cellular phones etc. Namely, these apparatuses control our mental abilities and determine our ideological position, freedom of movement and thinking.

Tomaž Furlan (1978) is a sculptor primarily working in video performance. The studio space presents a central role in his work he perceives it as an experimental playground. He is finishing graduation at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Ljubljana. His video works are presented as installation site-specific works. The mechanical devices play a central role in his video performance and are at the same time a side product which can be also exhibited sometimes in the gallery space, but he doesn’t view it as a true sculpture, because he would recycle it later. His work speaks about contemporary problematic of information era and the effect that devices have on human perception who is forced into repetitive actions. He lives and works in Ljubljana and has a studio at Autonomous Cultural Centre Metelkova.

Congratulations!

In the loop: Contemporary EU video art

This competition was initiated by the cultural counselors of the embassies of the EU member nations and the delegation of the European Union to the United States of America in Washington, D.C., and was designed to introduce American audiences to the latest European video art and artists.

Entrants submitted works created after January 2007, and they demonstrate a wide variety of approaches: narrative, non-narrative, abstract and representational.

The members of the jury that selected the works to be screened at the three organizing venues were: Carr; Rebecca Kasemeyer, director of education of the National Portrait Gallery; Ruth Perlin, associate director, Center for the Study of Modern Art of The Phillips Collection; Jack Rasmussen, director and curator American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center; Brooke Rosenblatt, manager of public programs and in-gallery interpretation of The Phillips Collection; Vesela Sretenovic, curator of modern and contemporary art of The Phillips Collection; and Pinder.

Video Artists Selected for Venues
National Portrait Gallery
Austria: People Who Like Bonnie Tyler by Susanne Jirkuff
Belgium: All Together Now by Hans Op de Beeck
Cyprus: The Calm by Yioula Hadjigeorgia
Germany: Sorry Curator by Annette Hollywood
Greece: About 6’ by Katerina Zacharopoulou
Malta: My Friends Call Me Ado by Patrick J. Fenech
Spain: Metropolis by Sergio Belinchon

American University
Bulgaria: untitled by Iva Nikolova
Czech Republic: Before I was There by Jan Pfeiffer
Estonia: My House by Rait Rosin
France: Marie by Pascal Lievre
Ireland: Lucha Libre by Moira Tierney
Latvia: Gold Digger by Verina
Netherlands: Pas de Deux by Eddie D
Slovenia: Wear VII by Tomaž Furlan
Sweden: Small Talk by Erik Rosenlund

The Phillips Collection
Finland: Pulse + by Pink Twins
Italy: Anamorphosis by Gregorio Sgarra
Lithuania: Synchronisation by Rimas Sakalauskas
Luxembourg: ? by Trixy Weis
Poland: Triptych by Andrzej Jobcryk
Portugal: Intercontinental by Miguelangelo Veiga and Susana Guardado
Romania: Workshop Minute by Regele Ionescu
Slovakia: Urban Metamorphoses by P. Kisantal

(Denmark and Hungary did not participate.)

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[Published July 12, 2010]