Rapture (silent anthem)

Date: 2009
Length: 10:00 min.
Format:  High definition video, 2:1
Specification: Colour, No Sound

Angela Mesitis Arbeit „Rapture (silent anthem)“ (dt. Verzückung – leise Hymne) reflektiert die Spiritualität und die Präsenz ritueller Erfahrungen in unserer modernen Welt. In Zeitlupe werden junge Besucher eines Open-Air-Musikkonzertes durch Großaufnahmen herausgehoben. Die gleichsam religiöse Atmosphäre zeigt sich in unterschiedlichen Details wie den verehrenden Blicken, der Ekstase und den hysterischen Gesten der Teenager, die so ihre unverfälschten und ursprünglichen Emotionen zum Ausdruck bringen.
Der Künstlerin Mesiti gelingt es über ästhetisch sehr anziehende Bilder, den kollektiven Gefühlszustand der Gruppe zu vermitteln. Es sind Menschen, die zu einer Einheit werden, ohne dass alle als Gruppe in einem Bild festgehalten werden. Ganz im Gegenteil fokussiert das Video die individuellen Erfahrungen, rhythmisch und emotional synchronisiert. „Rapture“ hat keinen Ton, so dass das Erlebnis eines musikalischen Events seinem eigentlichen Kontext entzogen ist. Der Betrachter kann sich auf den visuellen Inhalt konzentrieren, wodurch dessen emotionale und ästhetische Intensität noch wirkungsvoller ist. Der eigene Blick ist so stark davon fasziniert, dass er Teil dieses kollektiven Moments einer endlosen Verzückung wird.

EV

Interview:

► 1. Your video has been chosen among over 1700 festival entries to participate in Videonale 13. How central is the video medium to your overall artistic production? Is it complimentary to other media you use or do you work exclusively with video?

I come from a performance background and have always worked in video and installation, however video has always been the central component in my art practice.

► 2. Is there a particular theme, concept or problem your art addresses the most?

At present I am interested in recording the everyday performance practices of others, particularly those practices that have a relationship to tradition, cultural practice, ritual, worship and folklore.

► 3. What artists do you relate to or find significant for your own art-making?

I am drawn to a range of artists and film makers whose work extends the boundaries of contemporary practice in one way or another. I am particularly interested in artists whose work engages the social through a range of situations and activities that results in complex set of ideas. These include Pierre Huyghe , Francis Alÿs, Tino Sehgal, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Yvonne Rainer, Jane Campion.

► 4. Do you think the video medium can address social or political issues better than other art media?

I think that the moving image is one of the most commonly shared forms of communication available to us globally and therefore presents itself as an ideally democratic form of response for artists. The medium's inherent relationship to mass televised media and entertainment can generate a subtext through which we experience it and I think this makes the medium a good tool for addressing social and political issues.

► 5. Art can be seen as a mirror that registers and reflects life or as a tool that transforms it. Which of the two positions is close to your own art-making philosophy?

I think my work is sometimes quite observational, so therefore I guess it reflects life. I often try to present subjects or images that are framed differently to how one is used to experiencing them- so I guess that's a kind of transformation.

► 6. How do you understand success in an art-making career?

My understanding of a successful art-making career is one that repeatedly produces work that generates a response from a wide range of audiences and perspectives. Consistently pursuing the boundaries of what we understand and offering new ways of seeing. A successful career is one that has an effect, ie. there has been an immeasurable improvement because it exists.
Success = longevity. Sustained relevance and effect.

► 7. What is the most difficult and the most rewarding thing about making art / being an artist?

Most rewarding thing about being an artist is getting the chance to make imagined things real, connecting with people nonverbally, collaborating with people one might not normally come into contact with.

Most difficult thing is trying to explain to people what you do for a living.

► 8. What are your upcoming projects?

Currently working on a video that documents rare and traditional forms of musical performance played by various people in Paris, Sydney and New Zealand.

► 9. What do you do when you don't make art?

Read, watch films, swim in the ocean, listen to music