identity_factories

artists: Annika Larsson, Tim White, John Goto, AES+F, Common Culture, Lev Manovich, Andrei Iancu, Cristian Stan, Critical Factor.


The assimilation of an identity presupposes its representation.
Representation presupposes the contact with reality, and the co-relative of representation is a given object/being, no matter of the emotion it provides.

Before taking any action, before feeling, we have to represent the being/object that is the target of the action. The representation of identity only holds the well articulated and superficial forms; objective reality is at the surface of deep reality.
To identify becomes to assume: what one is, what one wants to be or what one imagines one is.

identity_factories deals with identity from the perspective of the anonymous, as a (visible/invisible) character in the work of the submitted artists. The anonymous is nothing else but the artificial stranger seen on a screen. It is that “somebody” which barely exists for us but can be transformed into a confident or an accomplice (Jean Baudrillard).

identity_factories presents the theme of identity as it is seen by the artists presented in an exhibition: an unmediated reality, collated, “prefabricated”. Works which project something from the artist are present, their expression, the objectivation of their sensibility. It – the artwork – is him or her – the artist.

The artist is where his work is, where he can perceive himself above all and this perception can only be performed by appropriating another being, and by the contact with the world. Thus, the artist cannot be himself, his whole identity, only be somehow being the others.

The artist is a creator of art – a “producer”. identity factories because the presentation of artwork to the public only modifies the way in which the viewer perceives the artwork. The two – the artist and the viewer – become parts of an inter-personalization and assimilate each other’s sensations.

Eugen Radescu
curator