Make Down
2004 - Film & Video (Film & Video)
300 x 100 x 50 / 34 min
Dennis Adams
The video Make down is a 34 minute sequence shot that shows the artist removing make-up in front of a mirror. The peculiarity of the scene consists in two symbolic details: first, the make-up itself, covering his face, hair and torso – a thick kaki layer, reminding of military camouflage – and second, the paper used to remove the make-up – black and white prints of stills taken from Gillo Pontecorvo’s 1965 film, “La bataille d’Alger” ( The Battle of Algiers). These still images put together recreate a sequence in which a young Algerian woman takes off her veil and puts on Western make-up. This disguise will help her pass the border and place a bomb in the French area of Algiers. Censured in France when it came out, the movie combines history and feminist activism; it may also be reinterpreted today in relation to the recent history of terrorism. The video goes with an installation: a vitrine enclosing the 96 prints soiled by the make-up, the remains of the artist’s performance, as if it were a reliquary. Compared to the terrorist’s gesture, the action is performed backwards by the artist, which could suggest the impossibility of having a unique reading of history.
Since 1998, through site specific works, often in public spaces, or video works, Dennis Adams focuses on ambiguous characters, condemned by our recent history, revealing traumas or collective amnesia phenomena. The specific episodes from 20th or 21st century history he refers to find a relevance in today’s sensitive actuality. Dennis Adams plays with the ideological power of images, by referring to cinema and media images, yet leaving their meaning open to interpretation: he does not state clearly his political stance, but underlines the complexity of history and lets the spectator form his own opinion. Dennis Adams was born in Des Moines, Iowa, in 1948. He lives and works in New York
Colors:
Related works sharing similar palette
© » KADIST
Petra Cortright
2012In the flash animation SpringValle_ber_girls , Petra Cortright collages together surreal scenes out of unnaturally idyllic desktop screensavers with equally unreal computer-generated women that pop in and out of the landscape...
© » KADIST
Jota Mombaça
2022Ghost 1: Drowning is not a poem but is not not a poem either by Jota Mombaça is part of a series of sculptures exploring water’s restless, elemental properties and what the artist describes as “the radicality of sinking”...
© » LE MONDE
Versailles à la Cité interdite de Pékin, une exposition diplomatique Cet article vous est offert Pour lire gratuitement cet article réservé aux abonnés, connectez-vous Se connecter Vous n'êtes pas inscrit sur Le Monde ? Inscrivez-vous gratuitement Article réservé aux abonnés « La Foire de la ville de Nankin » (1761), de Marie Leszczynska, avec la collaboration de différents peintres...
© » KADIST
Andrew Thomas Huang
2019Highly autobiographical, exquisitely made and compiling different aspects of the artist’s practice, Kiss of the Rabbit God is one of Andrew Thomas Huang’s most precise, relevant, and successful videos...
© » ARTS EQUATOR
Three Short Films about Women at SeaShorts 2018, George Town | ArtsEquator Thinking and Talking about Arts and Culture in Southeast Asia Articles Image courtesy of SEA Shorts August 16, 2018 By Alfonse Chiu (1216 words, five-minute read) The SeaShorts Film Festival ran for its second edition as the official pre-festival to the annual George Town Festival from 1st to 5th August in a radical geographical shift away from the Kuala Lumpur home of its parent organisation, Next New Wave...
© » DAZED DIGITAL
Julia Fox plays a hot heistress for Luis De Javier | Dazed â¬…ï¸ Left Arrow *ï¸âƒ£ Asterisk â Star Option Sliders âœ‰ï¸ Mail Exit Fashion News The designer’s new trippy short film Le Robó una Rosa also features Yves Tumor and dominatrix DJ Dangerous Rose 12 December 2023 Text Dominic Cadogan There’s nothing quite like a good ol’ fashion film, envisioning a world where good style reigns and overdressing simply doesn’t exist...
© » FRANCE24
The Turner Prize 2023: Meet the new 'Darling' of the art world - arts24 Skip to main content The Turner Prize 2023: Meet the new 'Darling' of the art world Issued on: 08/12/2023 - 17:13 11:20 arts24 © FRANCE 24 By: Marion CHAVAL | Magali FAURE | Eve JACKSON Follow | Loïc CHALAVON British artist and this year’s Turner Prize winner Jesse Darling talks about his prize-winning work which has been described as "delirious" and "juggling" with themes of Brexit, nationality, identity, bureaucracy, immigration and austerity...
© » KADIST
Nicholas Buffon
2016A series of works from 2016 document his neighborhood, replicating buildings and businesses he frequents within four blocks of his New York apartment...
© » KADIST
Köken Ergun and Satyam Mishra
2022Nepal and China signed an agreement for the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in 2017...
© » THE JEALOUS CURATOR
Soooo, when Malcom Gladwell’s podcast network reaches out to you and says, “Hey Danielle, would you like to share part of an interview we did with Marina Abramović with your listeners”, you say, “ummm, OKAY!” I’ve put a little mini episode together, featuring a 20 minute excerpt from their show, “Talk Easy with Sam Fragoso”...
© » ARTS EQUATOR
Weekly Picks: Indonesia (25 June - 1 July 2018) | ArtsEquator Thinking and Talking about Arts and Culture in Southeast Asia Indonesia June 25, 2018 Top Picks of Indonesia art events in Bali and Jakarta from 25 June – 1 July 2018 What would cultural heritage look like beyond the western perspective? Journey around East Timor’s Local Heritage is a lecture by Dominique Guillaud that looks at Atauro Island, an island in East Timor, and its heritage...
