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Curated by Mike Blockstein
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In
Security Blanket, moments that once were politically-charged
now seem innocent; anthems are turned on their heads; and the past
is used to comment on an uncomfortable present. From the moment
the program begins with Jeroen Offerman's wry spin on the
Led Zeppelin classic Stairway from Heaven, one senses that something
is askew. Blending a fine line between satire, social commentary
and sentimentality, the works in Security Blanket take the viewer
on a tour of the not-so-good ol' days concentrating on the
Watergate era to the present. Moving back and forth between politics,
pop culture and presidential populism, ideals clash with the reality
of the moment, through historicized reinterpretations, recollections,
cut-and-paste commentary or pure unabashed nostalgia. The works
use a soft, subtle touch to reflect on often-heavy topics.
Offerman's anthem wryly takes us backward, setting the tone
for much of the program. Stairway at St. Paul's spins us
back to the days of long hair, AOR and the fear of encrypted Satanic
messages on backward-played records. Hopping back to the present
era, Aaron Valdez's States of the Union: Clinton interjects
a lesson in demographic, poll-driven politics. What does it amount
to? Who are we accountable to? David Barker's 7 Days gives
us a dog's-eye insight into the Nixon White House. Has time
washed a golden hue over this era? Would the same scene play out
in the Bush White House? Contrast the political climate and activism
in Bryan Konefsky's You are Here with the present. Would
he be considered a domestic terrorist? Melancolia by James Elaine & William
Basinski stands in the middle of the program as a reminder of the
ideals of pre-WWII America. Erika Yeoman's amusing mid-life
crisis piece Chubby Buddy asks deeper questions about the loss
of creative desire and our sometimes sad and misguided attempts
to replace it. Like Stairway at St. Paul's, Kayo Nakamura's
hilarious Cafeteria unabashedly simultaneously revels and pokes
fun at pop culture and pop music. The question is though, is this
simple uninhibited joy, wallowing in nostalgia, or a form of hiding
in the past? This question looms over much of the program.
Security Blanket reaches its apex and returns to the present
with Carola Dertnig's haunting pre-9/11 A Room with a View
of the Financial District and Aaron Valdez's States of
the Union: Bush. The images seem to tell us all that we need
to know. Have we wrapped ourselves in a veil of secrecy under the
cloak of security?
Is the present too daunting, too fresh or so glaring that we must
explore it through the past? Is this a more subtle and effective
means of sociopolitical commentary? Have our voices been silenced?
In the age of heightened security, the works in Security Blanket pose the difficult questions of where our collective comfort zone
lies.
Stairway at St. Paul's by Jeroen
Offerman (8:00)
States of the Union: Clinton by Aaron
Valdez (4:00)
7 Days by David
Barker (10:00)
You are Here by Bryan
Konefsky (7:00)
Melancolia by James
Elaine & William Basinski (3:30)
Chubby Buddy by Erika
Yeomans (13:00)
Cafeteria by Kayo
Nakamura (4:30)
A Room with a View of the Financial District by Carola
Dertnig (5:30)
States of the Union: Bush by Aaron
Valdez (4:00)
(Running time: 59.5 min.) |
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