Prepare for Test_Lab: What Crisis?!
Excerpts from interviews with the participating artists of Test_Lab: What Crisis?!
V2_ asked the participating artists some questions about their visions, projects, concerns in/outside of the 'crisis' context.
Here an abbreviated selection of the answers given by Cesar Harada (Open_Sailing), David Hahlbrock (TransitGarden2), Dot Mancando (CoinFlipper/The Buttons), Sander Veenhof (Publicity Plant) and Thomas Thwaites (The Toaster project).
Q: Which issues would you like to address with your work/project? And does it make any explicit statements, or raise specific questions, about the state of the world?
CESAR: Open_Sailing is adressing all the global potential threats simultaneously. The earth is small and round, is there anywhere to escape? How would we do that? What we propose is a floating architecture.
SANDER: We live in a meta-culture where the references have become the main content. If hyperlinks and references are the maximum level of information we're capable to handle nowadays, I reckoned skipping the actual content would save me time and disappointments.
Q: Can you describe the context (and pertinence) of your work in contemporary settings? Are they economical, social, ecological, cultural, anything else?
SANDER: The origin of Publicity Plant is the need for a new coming artist to claim a position in the crowded art scene. I've tried to create a feedback loop within the networked artist community. The project provided me with an proper excuse to send mass or direct emails-spam.
THOMAS: The need to buy more to rescue our economy and the need to buy less to save our environment seem to be on a collision course.
Q: Do you believe that the world is in crisis?
CESAR : I believe the world is in homeostatic state. Or one can say, the world has always been constantly in crisis. It is describing the same state of the dynamic equilibrium of a living thing. I think the world is fine, the world doesn't need us, many humans are in panic, they should be.
DOT: The 'Boiling Frog' is still the best phrase to describe this situation, however putting more water in the pot does not prevent the frog from dying.
