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On practice, politics and postmodernism
charlatanistic way in which images are made. The act of determining where or what the figures are looking at or forward to becomes absurd. Rather, these Camp images of Unparalleled Objectives question their own construction and entangle the fantasy and deception of the viewer herself. How did you meet and how did you find yourselves in Doha? We met in Barcelona during our studies almost four years ago and started collaborating on small projects. We found ourselves here in Doha for work reasons and found Doha to be an interesting place to start an art project. How do you maintain your international and local artistic networks?
2 Andrew Weir (Left) and Christto Sanz at work on Unparalleled Objectives
This May, Katara Art Center exhibited the collaborative project of Doha-based artist duo Christto Sanz and Andrew Weir entitled Unparalleled Objectives Sanz, a native of Puerto Rico, explores concepts of the personal and philosophical contemporary human condition through photography. Weir, a native of South Africa, utilizes experience in mixed media to manifest concerns within contemporary theory and society. Together as expatriates living in Doha, their recent work in Unparalleled addresses various themes in contemporary fiction regarding identity, globalization and nationhood. The images of UO reveal a side of the extended lens of globalism: a distortion, which reflects uncertainties, misconceptions, and at times comedy. In a twist on pop consumer culture, these stylized images parody stereotypes by amplifying the
In Doha there is a small art scene but we feel that it is definitely growing. We have met some great people at exhibitions and they keep coming in and out of Doha. We live in a globalized world. With the Internet and specifically Facebook it is easy to connect and stay in contact with many people. How do these physically distant and cross-cultural professional and artistic connections influence your work? We certainly see cross-cultural connections as a learning opportunity. It is always interesting to observe different perspectives and globalization has formed an important pillar in our new work. How has working together influenced your individual practices and thinking? We have been working together from the day we met however it has certainly changed our individual styles. In the future we plan as working as a duo. Being that we’re from vast different cultural backgrounds however, it’s sometimes challenging. Yet it gives us a unique outcome as it fuses two different perspectives of a particular topic into one.
3 Era Without Era, 2012, Lambda print on photographic paper, 120x85cm, edition of 5 + AP
What kinds of movements and artists are you influenced by? “Neo-objectual simulationists,� who take on a multiple view of reality and are interpreted in their own specific way, influence us both. At the current moment we are interested in Pop Art and the performative video art movement of the 70’s. We also keep an eye on some of the regional artists, as there is a particular interest from abroad in the Middle Eastern region now. As visual artists, how has your style evolved as new imaging technology became available to you, or, do you find yourselves mostly experimenting within the boundaries of the creative tools you have? Imaging technology has influenced our work in terms of how it allows us manipulate images which compliments many ideas that we would like to express. We would not like
to limit ourselves to any particular method of production and very seldom think about boundaries in art or having a tool create any sort of boundary. In future projects we would like to explore different materials and tools of producing work. What is it like to have a practice in Doha? Challenging at times, however we keep discovering new things on a daily basis. Finding resources in Doha can be really difficult however we really are very happy being in a cultural environment that is different to our own and see it as a learning opportunity as well as an opportunity to develop ourselves as artists. There are some restrictions of what can be expressed due to cultural sensitivities however this usually helps us create work that appeals to a larger audience as a result.
Where do you find cultural authenticity, or truths, in depicting fictions? In a globalized world it is certain that authenticity or truths specific to culture is very hard to find nowadays and we don’t see ourselves in search of authenticity as we feel that from a cultural standpoint creating something 100% authentic is not realistic. By depicting fictions we are exactly trying to express this viewpoint.
You recently had a show here at Katara Art Center. In your statement in Unparalleled Objectives you address postmodernism as a concept and visual idea, which confuses the idea of truth and “separates esthetics from ethics.” The neon sign “Postmodernism” projects this literally and ironically onto the surrounding artwork in the show. How do you feel this self-critical declaration defines the images of UO?
“In a postmodern society the spectacle is almost impossible to escape”
The neon light was one of the highlight pieces of the exhibition and was created to divert from creating an exhibition consisting of only a series of photographs and act as a lead onto what the series of photographs represent. We would not say that it definitively defines the series of photographs but rather acts as a compliment in understanding the photographs.
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Inflating The Camel, 2012, Lambda print on photographic paper, 75x50cm, edition of 5 + AP
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Arrival, 2012, Lambda print on photographic paper, 75x50cm, edition of 5 + AP (ABOVE) Unpraralleled Objectives, 2012, Lambda print on photographic paper, 120x85cm, edition of 5 + AP (MIDDLE) Fruits In Paradise, 2012, Lambda print on photographic paper, 120x185cm, edition of 5 + AP (BELOW)
6 Global Merchandise, 2012, Lambda print on photographic paper, 120x185cm, edition of 5 + AP
How did you find the public experience of “Unparalleled Objectives”? How did the meaning of the work evolve publically?
Considering UO’s political message about cultural sharing, how can the content of an image transcend the superficiality of the spectacle?
The public experience was certainly unpredictable as we were not sure whether the UO would be understood in the way we intended. The number of positive responses however surprised us.
Considering Guy Debords comments on “The society of the spectacle” we consider in a globalized world that his theory applies to practically the entire world now, especially due to media accessibility and how it has changed society. These media undoubtedly carry influence, and more so, the willingness to be influenced not from a single direction but again by a multitude of ways that is very difficult to define in terms of superficiality. Our images however aim to transcend this message and thus can be seen by the elements that have been used in the images that represent this superficiality. In a postmodern society the spectacle is almost impossible to escape. We are mediated by images and these images build our culture. We live in a representation of life itself. This makes us part of the spectacle. What we want more than anything is to question
Postmodernism, 2012, Neon light, 150x30cm.
and bring these performances to their limits creating a mix of new representations in the same way globalization does. Do you have any future exhibitions lined up? UO is currently being exhibited in Christto Sanz’s home city San Juan in Puerto Rico and if everything goes well we will exhibit UO in Europe in March of 2013.
What projects do you have in mind for your future work together? We keep thinking of and get inspired by new ideas on a constant basis. However it’s a lot of hard work especially when it comes to researching and creating works that incorporate a number of factors. We would like to experiment with some new mediums that we have not used before to create a more diverse body of work.
What are you working on currently? We are working on a new body of work that will in some way continue the proposal of “UO.” However we seek to explore more areas of society in order to come up with some original pieces that can be used for a more interesting exhibition to be showcased in the Middle East and abroad.
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Long Distance, 2012, Lambda print on photographic paper, 120x85cm, edition of 5 + AP