Kendell Geers, Secession, 1999, Photo: Christian Wachter
 

Kendell Geers' texts, objects, installations, performances and videos critically question the relationship between ethics and aesthetics and are intimately related to the political activism of the artist, who was born in Johannesburg, South Africa.
 


Kendell Geers, Secession, 1999, Photo: Christian Wachter


Literature on the subject generally describes Kendell Geers as an "aesthetic terrorist" or a "South African anarchist" and in fact Kendell Geers' art reflects South African social issues. In a dialectic that is characterized by his experience of European and American modern art against the background of political reality in South Africa, Kendell Geers' works are characterized by the simplicity of their techniques and the violence of their contents. For instance, "Withheld/Shoot" from 1998/99 displays a loop with different situations where a weapon is pointed and shot at a human being. Kendell Geers utilized excerpts from '80s and '90s movies, including "Terminator", "A Bullet in the Head" and "Scarface" which he either presents in the form of a labyrinth of 15 monitors or two opposing video projections. Geers installed the work in such a way that the viewer assumes the position of the victim. The earsplitting loudness the shots is reinforced by techno rhythms and aimed directly at the viewer.
 


Kendell Geers, Mandela Mask, 1996  
 

In these works Kendell Geers shows how banal images of violence have become through the effect of mass media. Viewed together with his other works, further themes become evident: such as the depiction of fears and lusts so destructive to the human imagination pervasive in everyday life in a South Africa governed by apartheid.
 
Kendell Geers has conceived two new works on video for his exhibition in the Secession: these will be dealing with the subjects of graphic imagery and observation and will contain references to Klimt's Beethoven Frieze and use existing film footage.
 
Kendell Geers changed his date of birth in the course of a performance during the 1993 Biennale in Venice to May, 1968. The latter was the year of the Student Movement, the year of Marcel Duchamp's death and the year Guy Debord's "La Société du Spectacle" was published, which was to become a key work for South African society.
 
 
PUBLICATION

KENDELL GEERS 24 pages, 14 colored illustrations, 10 b/w illustrations authors: Matthias Herrmann, Christine Macel Secession 1999, ISBN 3-901926-13-5 ___________________ available in the shop

STEVEN BROWER   URS FREI   ANNIKA STRÖM

EXHIBITION PROGRAM 1999

For further information and photographic material please contact:
 
Tamara Schwarzmayr
Secession, Association of Visual Artists Vienna Secession
Friedrichstraße 12, 1010 Vienna
Tel: +43-1-5875307-21, Fax: +43-1-5875307-34
presse@secession.at