Icelandic Grass ............ 2006, video, 6:00

Icelandic Grass is a sketch for a longer video. It is a work-in-progress that positions an international artist (or a culture producer) and some fake situations that this job may cause. In other words, I reflected upon a subtitle: ‘Transitionary report on the state of mobility at the beginning of the 21st century’(a)

Everything accustoms: another artist or curator reflecting upon his or her displacement. How come we are nowadays so often displaced? I would suggest switching to the images above. It shows an 'art object' from some hotel room and a few notes, a sentence composed at some exotic place in-between the continents:

“What if the position of romantic hero is a fake one, an ideological screen masking the trauma of the larger reality?”

The author of this question had the hero of Schubert's Winterreise in mind, music that I had used in my Icelandig journey too. The same 'author in question' is criticizing intellectuals and artists who are perfectly integrated in the current global systems which they are intending to oppose or to possibly change. However, this seems to be the position of any critic as 'a philosopher in between places'. Is there a way to avoid these vicious circles? Is it possible to create a parasitic attachment that interrogates both the system and the hidden absolutes which structure it, setting in motion their contradictions and suspending their efficiency? (c)

No matter how cautious one is trying to act, there is always a temptation of ego-tripping. Especially inside so-called art world. So, let’s go back to this embarrassing situation of intellectual striptease, exposing own positions and doubts inside the international community. Let’s make it bearable with some smart texts. And, let’s present it just as a try-out or a sketch. This kind of ‘inferior material’ may be a very helpful step to enable further production of some engaged and at the same time self-reflective art. So, what about keeping some of these sketches alive and letting them grow, even if it feels as some monstrous mistake? (d)

a) Icelandic Grass formed a part of conversation around the book launch Report (Not Announcement). The conversation was held with artists Delphine Bedel, Amalia Pica, Andrea Schneemeier and me on June 2006 at BAK in Utrecht. The book and online publication project: www.bak-utrecht.nl/report is edited by curator Binna Choi

b) This typical Žižek-question is taken from the book Interrogation Machine: Laibach and NSK by Alexei Monroe, Massachusetts: The MIT Press 2005, pg.13. The quote regarding Winterreise (Winter's Journey) derives from 'Repeating Lenin' by Slavoj Žižek, Zagreb: Arkzin d.o.o. 2001, pg. 46. One can find it also at www.marxist.org

c) As regards the relationship between art, globalisation and monsters, there is a text that I would like to refer to: ‘In the Belly of the Monster’ by Charles Esche. The article is part of Shifting Map - a publication of RAIN, Artists’ Initiatives Network. An excerpt can be found at: http://www.resartis.org