difficulty now, of course, is that when we are not happy with the result of our actions, we no longer have anyone to complain to!
are figures in the installation that manifest this. I animated and projected the shadows of the terrorists in the second room of the presentation. In some ways, the projections are reminiscent of Dadaist imagery; absurdism still has agency as a mode of communication and a description of the world. I created the video to be in some way reminiscent of Plato’s cave, with its dancing shadows, communicating to us as a form of magnified reality.
RB: Scene Change manifests as a number of distinct works within the space of the pavilion, but each work seems to be made of the same stuff, both in terms of materials and semiotics. Each work is drawn from the same ‘parts bin’, so to speak. GB: The Pavilion is like an alchemist’s vessel; the mood of the space itself, and the mood of those who interact with the space will influence what comes out of that vessel. The many figures in the crowd scene in the first room echo the stance of the Borghese Gladiator. The raised arm was a greeting in Roman times; the Futurists in the time of Duce used it as a greeting; and of course it became the greeting of the National Socialist Party in Germany. I was interested in the idea of the crowd being an ocean, but I also have the idea of the crowd being an insect. It was common in the 19th century, and at the beginning of the 20th century, in Russian culture, to think of the crowd in these terms ─ as an animal ─ and you will see echoes of this throughout the exhibition. I am interested in Jean Baudrillard’s perception of the crowd. He described it as an amorphous mass which is terrorised by the mass media, terrorised by terrorists, and terrorised by power.
RB: When I first saw it, I wondered if the video was in some way inspired by Jewish eschatological and apocalyptic literature, like the end of the book of Daniel – given your background in Judaism that is.
RB: Some of the figures are quite scary in themselves mind, I saw a few suicide vests...
GB: I had not thought of it in those terms; that is, I had not thought of it in those terms yet! At the beginning of the 20th century there was a great interest in recording paranormal phenomena, photographing ectoplasm. Mikhail Larionov, along with his wife, Natalia Goncharova, were the driving forces behind the Rayonist movement. Larionov’s style was influenced by images of paranormal activities, depictions of rays emanating out from a body, and on the research around the subject that was fashionable at the time. As an artist I am fascinated by the idea of the human form emanating non-material material. The Futurists were interested in showing motion through repetition; this is something I have done too. For me the history of mankind is like a river, producing all these images as it flows along.
GB: The fear of terrorism is a contemporary phenomenon and there
RB: Can I ask you about the relationship between the crowd gesturing in
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