Event overview
Culture & Finance Capital - Visual Cultures Public Programme Autumn 2016
The practice of Brussels-based artist duo Vermeir & Heiremans focuses on the reciprocal relationship of art, architecture and economy. In their collaborative practice the artists nominate their home, a loft apartment in a post-industrial building in Brussels, as an artwork. The public does not have access to the 'house as art work'. Instead the artists use their home as source material for the production of ‘mediated extensions’, such as installations, videos, performances, interviews, publications and so on. These extensions create a web of cross referencing discourses and values, and show the 'house as art work' no longer as something exclusively physical, but rather as a virtual discursive site. Vermeir & Heiremans have presented their work in festivals and exhibitions worldwide, a.o. at Transmediale, Berlin (2016), 13th Istanbul Biennial (2013), Manifesta 9, Limburg (2012), 7th Shenzhen Sculpture Biennial (2012), Extra City, Antwerp (2012), Argos, Brussels (2012), Arnolfini, Bristol (2009).
Vermeir & Heiremans will present the live 'version' of their latest film MASQUERADE a 'fictitious reportage' on 'Art House Index', an experimental financial index that measures the economic and symbolic value of the 'house as art work'. MASQUERADE addresses a specific intersection of the contemporary art and finance markets, through the filter of Melville's novel The Confidence Man: His Masquerade (1857) as the structure for its episodic narration. The film takes its name from the subtitle of Melville’s novel. Art, like finance, is a system of belief and their markets are where this belief is put to work.In the live version of their film the financial market influences the real-time 'cutting' of the film. The actual performance of AHI–, showing the index going up or down, in 'real time' triggers a switch between two timelines, one of which shows the fully post produced 'finished' film while the other captures variations, rehearsals and outtakes. The artists have no control over the 'editing' of MASQUERADE, the markets creating a 'unique' moment in time...
Culture & Finance Capital
The nature of contemporary capitalism has radically altered in the last forty years: financial activity dominates over production, speculative investment is commonplace, indebtedness is a globalising condition, austerity targets the most vulnerable. These developments have not only changed the economic system, they have produced a new culture with widening inequality reshaping the social landscape of education, housing and public space. In this programme we shall explore the intricacies of the phenomenon called 'financialisation': surveying the way the credit system relates to everyday life, and hearing how artists, curators and activists are confronting finance from within the site of culture.
Series organisers: Louis Moreno & Tom Trevatt
The events are free. No booking is required. All are welcome!
cultureandfinancecapital.wordpress.com/
Dates & times
Date | Time | Add to calendar |
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13 Oct 2016 | 5:00pm - 7:00pm |
Accessibility
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