We only move wehen something changes
2002 - Photography (Photography)
122 x 155 cm
Olaf Breuning
In the work We only move wehen something changes !!!, Olaf Breuning composes a portrait of posed antiglobalization protesters, each wearing clown noses, inside of a scene reminiscent of an event. Like in the work Easter Bunnies (2004) (photographs of the Moai of Easter Island with big ears and rabbit teeth supported by scaffolding) the artist introduces the outside frame into his photographic frame. The detail of the red noses, that punctuate the image, re-examine the photograph’s meaning by introducing the role of the absurd inside of contemporary global issues. At once critical and playful, Breuning doesn’t alienate his subjects. The young anti-globalization activists are not impaired. Instead, they are shot or snapped in a moment of confusion, which is equally shared by Olaf Breuning himself. The spelling mistake of ‘when’ creates a supplementary text of a subtext. “Wehen” in German signifies the act of floating in the wind and the pains of childbirth. A linguistic slip surprisingly in tune with the subject of the image, the photograph evokes youth’s generational gap torn between the uncertainties and desires of action.
Olaf Breuning’s photographs, videos, performances and installations play with codes of mass production with references to publicity, fashion and cinema and “high” and “low” art. Between fiction and reality, fairytales and triviality, nightmare and bad jokes, the artist immerses his viewers decidedly into a pop and kitsch culture which is constantly being revisited. His works, made up by quotations, collages, and sampling are highly built. Often hyper-aestheticized, they work as “script-machines” reminiscent of special effects from the film industry. The artist frequently holds up a distorting mirror to his viewer, posing several questions of critique and play. Olaf Breuning was born in 1970 in Schaffhausen, Switzerland. He lives and works in New York and Zurich.
Colors:
Related works sharing similar palette
© » KADIST
Leslie Shows
Human Quarry is a large work on paper by Leslie Shows made of a combination of acrylic paint and collage...
© » WHITEHOT
Whitehot Recommends: Hunter Amos at Anna Zorina Gallery 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 Whitehot Recommends: Hunter Amos at Anna Zorina Gallery Installation view...
© » THEARTNEWSPER
The Metropolitan Museum will repatriate 16 Khmer sculptures to Cambodia and Thailand Art market Museums & heritage Exhibitions Books Podcasts Columns Technology Adventures with Van Gogh Search Search Antiquities trafficking news The Metropolitan Museum will repatriate 16 Khmer sculptures to Cambodia and Thailand The museum had been pressured and petitioned for years to return objects tied to smuggler Douglas Latchford Theo Belci 15 December 2023 Share Two antiquities with ties to the late dealer Douglas Latchford—the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara Seated in Royal Ease from the tenth or eleventh century (left) and the Head of Avalokiteshvara, the Bodhisattva of Infinite Compassion from the tenth century (right)—will be repatriated by the Metropolitan Museum of Art Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art has begun the repatriation process for 16 sculptures previously held in its permanent collection, returning 14 to Cambodia and two to Thailand...
© » KADIST
Vivian Suter
Vivian Suter paints her canvases and then allows them to come in contact with natural elements...
© » LENS CULTURE
Another America — AI-Generated Photos from the 1940s and 50s - AI-generated images by Phillip Toledano | Interview by Jim Casper | LensCulture Interview Another America — AI-Generated Photos from the 1940s and 50s Phil Toledano has often pushed the boundaries of photography to imagine the future; now he’s tapping into AI to create alternative histories, challenging our belief in any images at all...
© » ARTNEWS
Prison Bakery at Pompeii Sheds Light on Slavery in the Ancient World – ARTnews.com Skip to main content By Francesca Aton Plus Icon Francesca Aton Associate Digital Editor, ARTnews and Art in America View All December 12, 2023 12:47pm Prison bakery identified at Pompeii Archaeological Park, Italy...
© » ARTS EQUATOR
Yangon's well loved Palace of Literature (via The Myanmar Times) | ArtsEquator Thinking and Talking about Arts and Culture in Southeast Asia Articles October 3, 2018 The four storey yellow painted building with big masonry work of books in black and white pages for its motif loomed high at the corner of Merchant Road and 37th street...
