Rebecca Ann Tess
02 April - 28 May 2011
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| © Rebecca Ann Tess
A Crime must be Committed, 2010
HD video projection, 16:9, colour
13 min, English
(Video still) |
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REBECCA ANN TESS
A Crime must be Committed
2 April - 28 May, 2011
We are proud to present – on the occasion of the opening of our new
space in Berlin – the second solo exhibition of Rebecca Ann Tess on
April 2, 2011 at 7pm.
The video installation A Crime must be Committed is the second
instalment of a three-part series, addressing the historical shifts in
presentation of characters in European and US film and television
history.
In A Crime must be Committed Tess cites and alters typical scenes of the
crime and detective film genre, such as gangster-films of the 1920s,
(Underworld, 1927), film noir (The Maltese Falcon, 1941) neo-noir, (The
Detective, 1968), crime thrillers, (Die Hard, 1988; Shaft, 1971 and
2000), and the contemporary criminal investigation series (CSI, from
2000). The artist follows the historical development of the detective
figure and his relationship to the criminal, as well as the power
relation between the characters that changes over time. The video
refuses to follow a chronological order that normally structures
historiography. The tension as well as the case of the criminal film
remain unresolved. The loop leaves beginning and end undefined and
depending at what moment the viewer starts and ends watching a
different version of the traditional cops and robbers’ story appears.
Fear is not only an important dramaturgical component of a detective and
crime film, it also often plays a role in Hollywood productions, in
order to affirm the targeted white male in his identity. Different
situations in which those fears are invoked and repelled are the topic
of Tess’ new series of collages exhibited for the first time. The
pictures are printed on acrylic glass, so that the background shines
through and the frontal light casts shadows on the wall of the gallery.
These pictorial objects seem to connect the origin of film and
photography, namely celluloid and glass negative, and the contemporary
way of presenting images on flat screens. Characters and constellations
of figures appear in which fears of the society are inscribed. These
are fears that lead to oppression and discrimination and that are here
multiplied and intensified to the monstrous. They develop a life of
their own in the frameless windows to the media dream world.
www.figgevonrosen.com
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