The Ugly Sweet

--- Präsentationshinweise

 videocity.bs beteiligt sich bei der „∑-Summe“-Aktion, bei welcher die unabhängigen Kunsträume in Basel sich im Jahr 2017 abgesprochen haben, das Medium Video im November in den Mittelpunkt zu stellen, um eine Vielfalt an Themen und Herangehensweisen vorzustellen. Ein Aufruf erging an die audiovisuellen regionalen Kunstschaffenden, Werke der letzten beiden Jahre einzureichen.  Die videocity.bs-Kuratorin Andrea Domesle hat aus den über 200 Einreichungen 5 Künstlerinnen und Künstler ausgewählt.
Obwohl unabhängig und eigentlich für einen Kunstraum entstanden, ist bei videocity.bs spannend zu erleben, welche Herausforderung die Grösse der elektronischen Werbetafel und der öffentliche Raum an die Videos stellen: Welchen Einfluss hat das quirlige Treiben des Messeplatzes auf die Wahrnehmung der autonomen Kunstwerke?  Das Leben verstärkt die Faktoren Bewegung und Raum in den Videos und dort, wo diese mit Ton komponiert sind, ersetzt es die ursprüngliche Tonspur.  Der Alltag lässt die Videos in neuem Licht erscheinen und umgekehrt, die Videos den Alltag.  videocity.bs wird einen Monat lang zum immateriellen Bestandteil des Messeplatz und regt zu Austausch, Verschiebungen von Ordnungssystemen, unerwarteten Blicken und Begegnungen an.

 --- Notes on Presentation

    videocity.bs is participating in the "∑-Sum" action, in which the independent art spaces in Basel have in 2017 simultaneously agreed to put the artistic medium of video at the centre of focus, in order to showcase a multitude of themes and artistic approaches. An appeal by "Summe" association was made to the audiovisual artists working in the region to put forward works completed during the last two years. videocity.bs curator Andrea Domesle has chosen 5 artists from out of the 200 applications. 
Although independently created and intended for an art space, it is exciting to witness during videocity.bs what challenges the large electronic advertising screen and the public space pose to the videos: What influence does the lively hustle and bustle on the Trade Fair Square have on the reception of these autonomous art works? The surrounding flow of life itself amplifies the factors of movement and space within the videos and wherever these have been composed with sound, the original sound track is substituted by noise from daily life. Everyday life allows the videos to appear in a different light and conversely the videos experience the different framework of today. videocity.bs is poised to become an immaterial daily component of the trade fair square once more, stimulating exchange, the displacement of interpretative systems, summoning unexpected views and encounters.

In his work The Ugly Sweet, Dirk Koy plays with juxtapositions. This becomes particularly clear in the technical realisation of the work, as well as in the use of the medium and the various materialities of the subject. The concept may seem quite simple: the video shows cakes in front of a white background, which melt and merge into each other. Only on closer inspection do the juxtapositions reveal themselves, both in terms of technology and content, making this work especially fascinating. The video was made using photographs of various cakes. Koy challenges the technical medium and transforms the rigid photos into dynamic moving images. This approach reflects his interest in materiality – both of the cakes themselves and the images of them, and especially in the merging of these two elements. Koy himself describes this process as follows: ‘I was interested in reacting digitally to the physical materiality of the cakes. this is how a fusion of real and artificially manipulated materiality was created. digital cake kneading. an interaction of objectivity and abstraction, attraction and repulsion’ (email from Dirk Koy to Lea Sigmund, 02.10.20). The video also shows interesting juxtapositions compositionally. At first glance, there is a strong contrast between the neutral, white background and the colourful, artistically crafted cakes, which emphasises the materiality of the cakes. The cakes themselves trigger very contrary associations throughout the video. In the frames when the cakes are clearly visible, we associate them with sweetness, a form of pleasure, perhaps even with positive memories from our own life. The visual language is reminiscent of advertising shots, which emphasise the appeal of the depicted object. However, in the moment of metamorphosis, the transition between one cake and the other – when neither of the two is recognizable – the images cannot be clearly defined by the viewer. Sometimes they even create an unappetizing, repulsive, almost disgusting impression. Although they are recognisable as organic matter, they fuse into an indefinable mass. The beautiful picture melts away. The rapid change of the video between these phases does not allow the viewer to come to rest, but always oscillates between different worlds of feelings and impressions.

Lea Sigmund (Translation: Polina Chizhova)
   

https://www.dirkkoy.com

 --- EN

Under the title of “ ∑-Summe” five videos from five artists are brought together by the curator Andrea Domesle, format 16:9, 1-canal. The videos from Pascale Grau, Parvez Imam and Dirk Koy have a soundtrack, but during videocity.bs they are however shown without sound on the eBoard, so that the Basel city sound for once provide their unique sound track.
From 03.11. till 30.11.2017 the videos had been visible with certain exceptions on a daily basis from 8 till 24 hour, broadcast interspersed between the infos on the eBoard of the Basel Congress Center, Messeplatz 21, adjacent to the Swissôtel Le Plaza.

--- D

Unter dem Titel „∑-Summe“ sind fünf Videos, Format 16:9, 1-Kanal, gruppiert. Die Videos von Pascale Grau, Parvez Imam und Dirk Koy haben eine Soundspur, werden auf dem eBoard jedoch ohne Ton gezeigt, so dass die Stadtgeräusche ausnahmsweise den Sound bilden.
Vom  03.11. – 30.11.2017 wurden die Videos mit einigen Ausnahmen zwischen Infos auf dem eBoard des Congress Center Basel, Messeplatz 21, beim Swissôtel Le Plaza gezeigt. Täglich 8 bis 24 Uhr.

Artists: 
Matthias Aeberli, *1952, lives in Basel, matthiasaeberli.ch
Pascale Grau, *1960, lives in Basel, www.pascalegrau.ch
Parvez Imam, *1967, lives in Basel, www.parvezimam.net
Dirk Koy, *1977, lives in Allschwil, www.dirkkoy.com
Vladimir Mitrev, *1972, lives in Basel, www.vladimirmitrev.com