2015
EXCOMMUNICATION
video, color, sound, 11’00”,
(video stills), sound (http://www.ctv.va)
On June 22, 2014 Pope Franciscus, visiting the region of Calabria in the South of Italy, expressed for the first time an official excommunication against the ‘Ndrangheta, a Mafia-type criminal organization, centered in Calabria. I was interested in the power of the word as a performative act. The excommunication by the Pope of the criminal organization (which means excluded from the religious community), is not enforced by the police but lay on the value of the words resonating in the conscience of every single person. To question the value of the spoken word and in relation to its performer, I divided the voice from the body, the words from the Pope. I performed the speech lip synching the voice of the Pope in different settings and backgrounds. One, is recorded in front of the old olympic stadium of Amsterdam
2015
IN CONVERSATION WITH AERNOUT MIK
video, color, sound, 14’17”, (video stills)
The conversation between me and Aernout Mik was part of the the exhibition at 1646 in The Hague. Aernout and I discussed the work process but also the general topics addressed by my video, such as the value of the political and religious institutions, and the manifestation of their hierarchical power through media and appearance. To challenge even more the hierarchical value of voice within our meetings, I proposed to Aernout to record our conversation and later to lip synch each others voice. The content of the conversation belongs to the real speaker but the voices are switched. Can this manipulation disturbed the viewer’s perception of the value given to the content of the conversation?
Public screening:
IN PRINCIPIO ERAT VERBUM (2015)
Gallery 1646, The Hague (February 2015)
Exhibition view:
(foto: Floris Kruidenberg)
