Toby Huddlestone.

Video Apathy

Date: 2010
Length: 07:24 min.
Format: 4:3
Specifications: Colour, Sound, Single Channel
Courtesy the artist

Video Apathy is a history lesson on the last 60 years. With a large number of illustrations, the artist illuminates his chronologically structured analysis of political, historical and socio-historical events. He places the focus on the effectiveness and range of protests, rebellions and revolts with which the population and functionaries rebel against wars, political machinations, unemployment and social structures. Revolutions in the fields of music and fashion are also a sign of such protest movements. The compilation of historical images, and the rapid sequence in which they appear, causes events of the past to flash up, giving the video a strong suggestive power. The question arises:  For what do people fight and protest nowadays? Reality TV and social media, a novelty in the 1990s, have now taken over the place of demonstrations and rebellions. VIPs are the new heroes of the nation. The artist reveals a society of indifference, indecision and powerlessness. With his political campaign “Apathy 2009” he casts an ironic eye upon these attitudes: A protest which addresses nobody, with excuses intended to justify not protesting. The viewer thinks about the past years and the artist invites him to take a position: “Is this our Vietnam? … You tell me!”

Natasche Priester

Interview:

► 1. Your work has been chosen among over 2000 festival entries to participate in VIDEONALE.14.  In which context  do you prefer to present  your work, festival/cinema context or exhibition? And what kind of difference does the respective mode of presentation mean for you / your work?

I like both. From a perspective of generosity, I prefer the exhibition format - it allows more time for a work to be viewed over a longer periods of time, so gives more people more opportunity to see a work. From an artist's perspective, I very much like my work to be placed within an exhibition context when the context/concepts are interesting, and key to the artwork making some kind of sense within the exhibition. When curated well, this can be really exciting. The festival is a good way of seeing lots at once, but sometimes it can lead to the audience forgetting some elements of what they have seen due to it all being placed on one screen together in a show-reel format, rather than a particular way of seeing work in a larger space that one moves around and navigates. In festivals and screenings, people end up remembering their favourites, which brings an element of competition to the works too. That said, it is a good way of curating thematic presentations of work.

► 2. Art can be seen as a mirror that registers and reflects life or as a tool that transforms it. Is there a particular theme, concept or problem your art addresses the most?

I never really concentrate on this. The ideas flow from somewhere in my brain I'm not quite sure about, and I don't want to analyse too much, otherwise it wouldn't be as spontaneous and reflexive. My politics, philosophy, ideology and so forth I guess forge the work I make, sometimes more so than other times - I think all work in some way attempts a deeper understanding of the human condition and the world, but I don't like to assign an identity on this.

► 3. In which way is the video medium an excellent possibility to express your intended subjects, especially in contrast to other media you use? Or do you work exclusively with video?

I work through all media, and actual feel most success through the processes of collaboration, discussion, presentation, conversation. Video is sometimes an outcome of these things, but the processes themselves are where everything is bubbling and igniting. I use video when I guess I'm trying to focus on more of a narrative structure of sorts - thinking about the languages of film, cinema, expanded cinema, video art and the moving image, it is a particular language that usually involves a visual and audio score, in addition to having some physicality to it (projection/monitor) - when I think an idea needs these things then it becomes a video work.

► 4. If you have the chance to ask the visitors of the VIDEONALE.14 exhibition questions about your own work, what would be your question?

Does the work make you think any differently about the subject matter (protest, apathy, the media, etc.) than you did before?