When You Are Entering a House, Make Sure You Know How to Get Out, curated by livedspace, is a one-night screening investigating the way art can work with dominant idioms of the moving image, from feature length films to sit-coms, by using parody and pastiche as a way to re-examine the subject’s position within, against or alongside institutional spaces in advanced capitalism.
livedspace will give short presentations on each of the video works and outline the architectural contexts of their production. Particular emphasis will be given to explaining the relevance of the spaces depicted in the works, and how the artists stage their performances within these sites while addressing traditions of institutional critique. The various modes of identification displayed by the artists, using pastiche and subversive affirmation**, will be discussed and elaborated upon in relation to the works’ historical contexts.
*Popcorn will be served.
**Subversive affirmation is a form of excessive, explicit consent that appropriates, identifies with, or imitates the language of power. Subversive affirmation acts as a kind of parasitical strategy using the acceptance of subjection and the reiteration of forms of power to highlight the absurdity of ideologies performed.