CHANNEL ZERO
Netherlands Media Art Institute
28.08. — 23.10.04
Participating artists: Sergei Bugaev Afrika (RU), Maja Bajevic (FR/BA), Marc Bijl (NL), Heather Burnett (UK), Ritsaert Ten Cate (NL), Nikos Charalambidis (CY), David Claerbout (BE), Christoph Draeger (CH), Rainer Ganahl (AT/US), Kendell Geers (ZA), Kostas Ioannidis (GR), Katarzyna Kozyra (PL), Boris Mikhailov (RU), Elahe Massumi (IR), Personal Cinema (GR/International), Francesco Simeti (IT), Eliezer Sonnenschein (IL), Lina Theodorou (GR), Palle Torsson (SE), Simone Zaugg (CH)
Extra: Film programme with video works from the collection of the Netherlands Media Art Institute. Works will be shown by Ant Farm (US), Yael Bartana (IL), Claus von den Bruch (D), Jordan Crandall (US), Johan Grimonprez (BE), Les Levine (US), Jayce Salloum (CA)
Channel Zero, is an exhibition that explored the differing representations of violence in the media, the entertainment industry and society at large. The artists participating in it respond to the culture of violence that surrounds us, largely drawing their attention to a specific kind of media-centric imagery to analyze, undermine and deconstruct it or to point to the problems of representation that underlie it. Most of them are engaged in a serious critique of the role of images in our society. Their own work thus transforms the conventions of the mass media in order to prompt us to question that which we have been conditioned to accept as being de facto true. This group of artists – some of whom come from territories marked by conflict and have experienced real violence first hand – examined the social, political, and cultural aspects of violence through film, video, photography, digital media and the internet. So Channel Zero was, in effect, an exhibition about media, made possible through the use of new media.
The artists in Channel Zero probed the all-pervasive power of the media image – which has become yet another product for consumption – and examined the conflation of violence as both spectacle, fiction and putative reality therein. At the same time, they aimed to offer insight into the personal and psychological dimensions of how violence is perceived or experienced, not only in the public arena but also on a more personal level. Thus, apart from being limited to images of catastrophe and destruction the artists in Channel Zero also aimed to offer a redemptive alternative, which reflects the ever-increasing desire for a culture of peace. Sifting through the often-deceptive images created by the media, they point to the heavily mediated perceptual field of the representation of violence, and offer alternative readings of them.
Channel Zero was supported by: The Mondriaan Foundation, Pro Helvetia, The Embassy of Sweden and Livingston
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