Book of Veles 12 - Concrete Foundations
2021 - NFT (NFT)
Jonas Bendiksen
For his project Book of Veles artist Jonas Bendiksen travelled to the small city of Veles in North Macedonia, inspired by a series of press reports starting in 2016, that revealed Veles as a major source of the fake news stories flooding Facebook and other social media sites celebrating Donald Trump and denigrating Hillary Clinton. Scores of young people in the impoverished city had discovered that they could make a decent living by fabricating and circulating stories online. Originally presented as a book, Bendiksen’s haunting images show the city of Veles and its inhabitants. A man leans out of a window of a large apartment block, a pair of satellite dishes hanging nearby. A woman sits on an unmade bed, gazing into the screen of a laptop. Grainy and dimly lit, the images are eerie, poignant, and beautiful. They’re also fake. Bendiksen’s project also references an historical tale, the original Book of Veles , involving a story about a pre-Christian pagan bear-god (called Veles) from a manuscript discovered in 1919. While this religious-historical epic is popular today among Russian nationalists, professional academics have concluded it is actually a forgery—a piece of fake news from the 1920s Bendiksen did make two trips to Veles in 2019 and 2020, but he didn’t photograph any people. He shot pictures of buildings, land and cityscapes, and when he returned home to Norway he used video-game-production software to transform the images into three-dimensional renderings. Using a game engine, he built 3D models of people and objects and placed them inside the scenes, carefully adjusting their poses, clothing, and lighting to make everything look as realistic as possible. When the book of the final images was originally published, the project was celebrated as photojournalism, and it wasn’t until Bendiksen made a public announcement that it became clear that it was a fake story about real people, who made fake news. After the reveal, the project was covered in almost 100 articles in the worldwide press.
Jonas Bendiksen is a Norwegian-American artist and photographer whose work addresses enclaves, people on the fringes of society, and those living in isolated communities. His first published book, titled Satellites – Photographs from the Fringes of the former Soviet Union (2006), looked at separatist republics in the former USSR. In 2005 Bendiksen started a project titled The Places We Live about a different type of enclave – the urban slum. This project became a three-year journey through four slum communities around the world. In 2008 it became a book and exhibition featuring projections and voice recordings in a three-dimensional installation. Bendiksen’s work also considers faith and religion, and its place in society. His book, The Last Testament (2017), is about people who claim to be the Second Coming of Christ.
Colors:
Related works sharing similar palette
© » KADIST
Chen Zhexiang
2021In the video work Any Resemblance is Coincidental , CHEN Zhexiang mined portraits of real Asian criminals that were abandoned on the Internet...
© » HYPERALLERGIC
Sleeping Polar Bear Snuggling on Iceberg Wins Photo Award Skip to content "Ice Bed" (2023), digital photo (© Nima Sarikhani, Wildlife Photographer of the Year; all images courtesy the artist and Natural History Museum, London) In an era of immeasurable chaos caused by unsustainable human activity across the planet, it’s crucial to look within the natural world for order, hope, and to feel grounded as things spiral around us...
© » TATE EXHIBITIONS
Bill Viola | Royal Albert Memorial Museum & Art Gallery Discover the work of internationally renowned video artist Bill Viola at Exeter’s Royal Albert Memorial Museum & Art Gallery (RAMM) ARTIST ROOMS Bill Viola presents three works from the ‘Passions’, a series of video works created between 2000 and 2002 that explore human emotions...
© » EYE OF PHOTOGRAPHY
© 2023 All rights reserved - The Eye of Photography Olivier Culmann, URSSAF Normandie, site du Havre @ Olivier Culmann Le Havre, Seine-Maritime, Normandie, France 10/05/2023 © Olivier Culmann / Tendance Floue @ Thomas Jorion @ Sidonie Van Den @ Isabelle Scotta @ Carlo Lombardi S From October 21st to January 7th, 2024, for its 14th edition, 25 international photographers, both established and emerging, can be discovered in an open-air exhibition tour throughout the city, on the beach, and indoors at Point de Vue and Les Franciscaines...
© » ARTEFUSE
Pipilotti Rist, Anj Smith and Guillermo Kuitca at Hauser & Wirth, NYC (Video) - ArteFuse PIPILOTTI RIST PRICKLING GOOSEBUMPS & A HUMMING HORIZON 9 NOVEMBER 2023 – 13 JANUARY 2024 NEW YORK, 22ND STREET ANJ SMITH DRIFTING HABITATIONS 9 NOVEMBER 2023 – 13 JANUARY 2024 NEW YORK, 22ND STREET GUILLERMO KUITCA PINTURA SIN MUROS 9 NOVEMBER 2023 – 13 JANUARY 2024 NEW YORK, 22ND STREET...
© » KADIST
Alia Farid
2019For her work in Sharjah Biennial 14, Alia Farid traveled from the United Arab Emirates to Iran across the Strait of Hormuz to film the longest day of the summer...
© » KADIST
The Sirens’ Stage/Le Stade des Sirènes/Lo stato delle sirene April 3 – May 2, 2010 Kadist Art Foundation is pleased to present “The Sirens’ Stage/Le Stade des Sirènes/Lo stato delle sirene”, an exhibition by Etienne Chambaud in the framework of Vincent Normand’s project Permanent Exhibition, Temporary Collections ...
© » WHITEHOT
On Sung Hwa Kim: Today’s Yesterday, Yesterday’s Tomorrow at Harper's Chelsea 512 advertise donate post your art opening recent articles cities contact about article index podcast main February 2024 "The Best Art In The World" "The Best Art In The World" February 2024 On Sung Hwa Kim: Today’s Yesterday, Yesterday’s Tomorrow at Harper's Chelsea 512 Installation view...
© » DAZED DIGITAL
How to use the new Dazed Club app | Dazed â¬…ï¸ Left Arrow *ï¸âƒ£ Asterisk â Star Option Sliders âœ‰ï¸ Mail Exit Life & Culture Guide Here’s how to get the most out of our new creative networking platform, the Dazed Club app 9 February 2024 Text Dazed Digital Since Dazed Club launched in 2022, it’s helped members make meaningful connections in the creative industries, access exclusive events, and showcase their work to a wider audience, as well as opening up the doors to the magazine’s vast archive...
© » AESTHETICA
Aesthetica Magazine - Curator Interview: 130 Years of Native Photography Curator Interview: 130 Years of Native Photography In Our Hands: Native Photography, 1890 to Now is a major exhibition at the Minneapolis Institute of Art, spanning 130 years of work by First Nations, Métis, Inuit, and Native American photographers...
© » ARTS EQUATOR
"The Misinterpreted Futures of George Town 2068": Missing Futures | ArtsEquator Thinking and Talking about Arts and Culture in Southeast Asia Articles Tan Thian Chang September 27, 2018 By Akanksha Raja (960 words, four-minute read) Prior to stepping into the mystifying world of The Misinterpreted Futures of George Town 2068 , I was curious and fascinated by that science-fictioney title, coupled with the exciting premise of a performance with no performers: the technical elements of the show (lights, sound design, video projections) perform in lieu of human bodies...
© » ARTS EQUATOR
The top ArtsEquator articles of 2020 | ArtsEquator Thinking and Talking about Arts and Culture in Southeast Asia Articles NEON December 31, 2020 Below is a list of the top 10 ArtsEquator articles in 2020, in random order: An Elder Millennial’s Guide to Classic Singapore TV & Movies by Joel Tan Published on: 20 Aug 2020 “Purists are undecided on when exactly Singapore TV died, but I think 2007, when Phua Chu Kang wrapped, and 2015, when Tanglin started, might be a good gauge...
© » KADIST
Frequencies of Tradition, Monthly film screenings at The Roxie Dates: Wednesdays, April 20, May 18, June 15, July 13, 2022, 6:45 pm (doors open 6:15 pm*) Location: Little Roxie Theatre, 3117 16th Street, San Francisco, CA 94103 Fiona Tan, Ascent (2016), 80:00 mins Wednesday, April 20, 2022, 6:45 pm (doors open 6:15 pm) Ascent (2016) reflects on Japan’s Mount Fuji and its great significance to the country and its people...
