April 19, 2007
Intellectual Economy by Robert Ladislas Derr
@ Athens Video Art Festival
(Athens, Greece) Robert Ladislas Derr will exhibit Intellectual Economy, a two-channel video installation in the Athens Video Art Festival, April 27 – April 29, 2007.
The act of making Intellectual Economy was as much cerebral as it was physical. The process of creating has a structure that begins with getting the idea out. Intellectual Economy physically documents the struggle endured during the creation process. It comprises of two simultaneous video projections on opposite sides of a suspended wall, displaying Derr busting his head through a wall. One projection shows the view of the wall he will eventually bust through, and the other presents the back of his head allowing the viewer to witness his act.
The installation conveys a metaphor for the thought process of creating art. The front side view of the rupturing wall echoes the process of birth and challenges the notions of illusionistic space. Breaking through the wall from one side to the other illustrates that art is not easy. While this rupture occurs on a two dimensional surface, the positioning of the projections allows the act to appear as if it is actually happening. The viewer is able to walk around this suspended wall and watch Derr’s progression.
Once the wall breaks, the art product takes form illustrating the construction and deconstruction of the art process. The breaking of the wall indicates that the act is almost complete. Derr continues to break pieces away from the wall creating a hole large enough to allow his head to comfortably protrude into the new space. After a long painful struggle to access this new space, the videos repeat the act illustrating the continuous struggle of the artistic process.
Derr derived the name for the installation after a conversation about his artwork with Michael Govan in 2001 (Govan was director of the Dia Center for the Arts at the time). Mr. Govan told Derr the he would have to be part of the "intellectual economy" before his artwork could be shown at the Dia.
Articles about Derr’s artwork:
Discipline
Void
To Helen
Posted by jo at April 19, 2007 03:06 PM
