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Aernout Mik

Aernout Mik, Schoolyard, (stills) 2009, screen video installation. Courtesy carlier | gebauer, Berlin.

Aernout Mik, Schoolyard, (stills) 2009, screen video installation. Courtesy carlier | gebauer, Berlin.

Centro de Arte Dos de Mayo - Madrid
Curated by Ferrán Barenblit

By Juan José Santos

Not so much a retrospective of the work of Aernout Mik as a review, this exhibition concerns relocation in the current framework of four of his videos: Glutinosity, Schoolyard, Training Ground and Raw Footage-perhaps with the intention of linking this work with social movements that have emerged in Europe over the last year and have come to Wall Street.

Aesthetics and the progress of Aernout Mik´s work is unitary and contains few variations, but that does not make his work less interesting. The artist assembles overcrowded scenes and provides his subjects with little direction, so improvisation plays an important role. His actors are reacting to something that happened in a prior moment, which is unknown. Their reactions are absurd (in a way that sometimes reminds me of a Monty Python sketch, such as the Ministry of Silly Walks), incomprehensible and disjointed. And above all, no drama, no screams. It seems that people do not know how to cope with a tragedy that has just happened.

A number of techniques are employed to achieve the desired effects. First, there is no narration. Second, by placing the television screens broadcasting the film at ground level, viewers are brought even closer to the action. Finally, the absence of direct audio invites visitors to concentrate solely on the images and thoughts that create those images.

Schoolyard (2009) examines the atmosphere that existed in Holland after the murders of Pim Fortuyn and Theo Van Gogh and the ensuing  debate about immigration those tragedies caused-and how that country became a virtual school playground populated by teenagers more confused than usual. This work introduces the image of a mannequin that some feel is a reference to Alfred Hitchcock, but actually, I believe, he is making a statement about the dehumanization of society.

Schoolyard, (stills) 2009, screen video installation. Courtesy carlier | gebauer, Berlin.

Schoolyard, (stills) 2009, screen video installation. Courtesy carlier | gebauer, Berlin.

Glutinosity (2001) delves into the definition of roles in society, which are packaged and sold to the general public by the mass media. These rest of the exhibition, as it features audio and is edited with real images of the Bosnian war that were not used in television footage because they were not exciting enough. It is a study of the absurdity of the everyday in the midst of the ultimate violence of war. Finally, Training Ground (2006) denounces the military mindset and how it is advanced through confusion, ironic games and conceptualism.

(February 8 - June 2, 2012)

Juan Jose Santos is a freelance journalist and art critic.


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