On the occasion of the European Biennale of Contemporary Art in Nimes/France, a new videoinstallation, the work "this is your life". was shown for the first time.
installation view
description:
“this is your life”, 2005. videoinstallation for three screens and soundsystem, DVD, different versions, commissioned by European Biennale of Contemporary Art Nimes
In cooperation with animal-rights activists, who illegally shot the footage for this installation, I developed this work as a reaction and comparison to Abu Ghraib and
Guantanamo. The groundwork/ approach for this videowork can be seen in Giorgio Agamben´s book 'Homo sacer' (1998), which is a survey of the history
of the western democratic state comparing it to an enormous concentration camp in its essence. He sees the modern state as a totalitarian event in the efficient
management of naked biological life because contemporary sovereignty is exercised through bio-politics – the control of naked life. According to Agamben, “the power
of decree to which concentration camp prisoners are subjected has no legal limitations and constitutes the secret matrix of the modern administrative state.".
The three screens show three different edits: The left screen concentrates on individual pigs, the center screen focuses on footage shot inside of the stalls and
the right screen shows the structure of the pig mast.
Next to the three screens, extremely loud Death Metal is used to underline and intensify the deathmatch-atmosphere of this artwork and the fundamental questions
it is raising with the chosen title.
www.lemanif.org, catalogue still available
