Threat Zone at TPS

THREAT ZONE at TPS (Triangle Project Space)

Dates: November 18 - December 17, 2005
Artists: Carlos Amorales, Frances Goodman, Gulsun Karamustafa, Emily Jacir / Anton Sinkewich, Arthur Kleinjan, Basim Magdy, Ed Young

Curated by Basim Magdy

There is no particular science that studies, investigates or categorizes what is usually perceived as a personal or public threat. When confronted by the continuous and persistent political promotion of substantive or fictional threats, to secure collective support for their agendas, this is quite a paradox. Over the last few decades, the evolution of a complex network of abusive politics, technological misuse, religious fanaticism, tailored disease, international power struggles and uncontrollable natural disasters has led to an urgent need for more exploration of what we fear, why we fear it, and how to prevent its impending dangers. The introduction of mass media and its domination of knowledge-based systems have magnified the belief in its credibility. In the past, the media has engineered fictional threats, promoted them and later managed to introduce them as historical facts. This project is an attempt at exposing the overlooked in today's selective and often dictative media coverage of what we perceive as threats.

Threat Zone presents different artistic positions that investigate the constructs that guide our perception of fear. Since the introduction of his fictional character 'Amorales' and the Mexican wrestling mask that represents it, Carlos Amorales has explored identity within the social context that tends to strictly outline our behavior. By wearing the mask himself, and lending it to several performers on different occasions, he has turned 'Amorales' into an alter ego of himself and others; an adequate outlet for the violent urges and self-destruction that lie beneath. For Threat Zone Carlos Amorales will show his video My Way, a documentation of one of his wrestling performances. The work of Frances Goodman investigates very intricate details inherent in our daily routines. Her work, The Voice of Reason, delicately but thoroughly digs in people’s fear of germs and argues that these phobias and neuroses are often a reaction to the physical structures of modern society. Goodman's Do Nots accompanying text piece, displayed in public bathrooms around the city is a guide to sanitary perfection in a public bathroom. Gulsun Karamustafa's video Witchcraft subtly but effectively reflects on supernatural powers and the role of rituals in modern society. A little girl slowly reaches up to open a Pandora's Box of stacked religious objects that represent different beliefs. Accompanied by the music of Peter Mahajdik, the video becomes a ritual of its own. Emily Jacir and Anton Sinkewich are artists and activists. Their Untitled collaborative installation, comprised of books about Palestine or by Palestinian authors pressed together in a doorway in a state of hazardous suspension, is indicative of the state of the unresolved cause. One has to pass through the door, this transitory space, with caution. The slightest uncalculated move may lead to undesired consequences. Arthur Kleinjan's video Traverse is a visual narrative of a trip through memory that uses different time frames to create tension between fact and fi!
ction. T
hrough his storytelling, while driving on an empty highway, a driver is caught in a continuous perplexing vision of himself outside the car on the highway. Kleinjan's work leaves us wondering about the conflict between immediate physicality and memory. Basim Magdy's drawing installations, displayed in an almost dark environment, create a fragmented but systematic vision that sarcastically subverts prevailing representations of power in visual culture. Killing Teddy, a short video by Ed Young, is an exercise in destruction. As the artist administers a number of beatings and various other forms of sadistic acts of random cruelty on fluffy toys, one starts to wonder about the reasons behind those actions towards such icons of many affiliations, and their position in today's global culture.

Threat Zone brings to the Triangle Project Space artists' works that long for diverse interpretations and in this exhibition the viewers are encouraged to play the active role of the questioning participant. This show is a starting point for communicating and debating the different interpretations of the notion of threat.

TPS (Triangle Project Space) is a non-profit contemporary arts venue focusing on media driven aesthetics. Working with artists and curators on the periphery of contemporary art practices, TPS aims to provide an arena that encourages creative risk