Curation of the artistic videos looking at the past

“Some things won’t change” by Adam Pelling Deeves [2009] is a great example of how contemporary artists re-appropriate popular culture videos. Pelling Deeves, in his remix of the 1956 video “Design for Dreaming”, modifies the subject and provides different perspectives on the video. In the newer video, the actress Tad Tadlock is the star of the video. She is still seen in the kitchen and in the passenger seat of the car. But unlike the original video, she is the person who drives the story. In the first video, the focus was on technology and cars; the second version highlighted the exhilarating rhythm and the sentence “some things won’t  change” remain the same. Nothing external has been added to the video; but the artist has been able to transform it, providing  a very different, more contemporary ideal: the eternal malice of human nature, the irreducible distinctiveness of people and perplexity related to progress.

Fictional recall by Urizen Freaza and Misty Woodford [2008] is a poetic parenthesis in the Dreams of Progress exhibition. It reminds the visitor that out of the present, there are not only dreams of future but also memories of the past. Progress often follows a conscientious approach, the future being one of our core preoccupation. Memories on the other hand are a product of sub consciousness. The video Fictional recall episode 3 highlight the fact that memories are not tangible, often out of our control. Another way to question progress is to wonder if our memories reflect a life of continuous improvement. The answer is no. It can even be the opposite; nostalgia makes old times look better than present. Society and technology might ‘progress’ but has it really an impact on me? Old videos of family reunions seem like if nothing changed.

The idea of “Flying” from Sam Fuller [USA] is straightforward. The video juxtaposes a paper plane, classic symbol of freedom, with the unsympathetic urban setting of Manhattan. This emphasizes the tension between  the utopia of a megalopolis and the capacity for its inhabitants to feel free in their mind. However, the colours of the video are warm, reminiscent of anarchic videos from the 60s; perhaps the artist’s feelings towards the city are not so negative.

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• Back to the videos
• Curation of the exhibition