AES+F: Portrayals of a 'Global Paradise'

'...surreal scenes of multicultural figures...'-Agnies Zkamlicka

AES+F, Allegoria Sacra, Panorama #2

AES+F & the Silk Map

AES+F, a Moscow quartet of Titiana Arzamasova, Lev Evzovich, Evgeny Svyatky and Vladimir Fridkes, were asked to join the Padiglione Venezia’s Silk Map exhibition at the 55th Biennale di Venezia. The concept is to apply ‘soft art’ to represent the collaboration of East and West; which in itself reflects the historical uniqueness of the Venetian identity. Venice was an important commercial hub that linked Byzantine, Persia and the Middle East to Europe as a destination for trade. In the12th century the city’s textile production became a demand of Constantinople trade, altering the direction of the trade route for fabric production. Venice united from ancient times the two worlds bringing along with the ‘silk roads’ an exchange of religions, cultures, and technologies. AES+F, along with five other artists, were asked to present works that reflect and engage in ‘this tradition of knowledge, along the roads of the East, reinventing traditional materials and/or imagining free inventions, creating six exclusive works for the Pavilino and city.’(labiennale.org)

AES+F & the Sacred

Giovanni Bellini «Allegoria Sacra», (1490–1500), Galleria degli Uffizi

On a superficial level, the digital collage by AES&F’s Allegoria Sacra, Panorama #2 renders airport passengers as a Fellinian fantasy of surrealist reality. The location of the airport is a platform for diversity, a place where people randomly accumulate to only separate in their alternate directions. A place where people travel from city to city, country to country, and continent to continent, flying over mountains, deserts, oceans and valleys. East meets West embodying the stereotypes of historical and cultural references. There are elements of tradition, modernization, and globalization as the terminal represents the micro of the macro world. For all the diversities, co-habitation of multicultural passengers are equal in their temporary waiting for flight.

On a more critical level, the work was inspired by Giovanni Bellini’s Allegoria Sacra (Sacred Allegory) which now hangs in the Uffizi, Florence. The painting remains open to interpretation by art historians. One interpretation, which seems to be the most likely influence of AES+F, is that the work shows Purgatory. The souls of the virtuous, Christians and non, await their fate, anticipating the doors of heaven or hell. Bellini paints are mythological figures, Christian personages such as Apostle Paul (evidenced by his sword) and St Catherine (associated with her beauty and dress) a Muslim in traditional attire, children playing, a peasant with a mule, and others.

The Renaissance representation of the moment the world ends is transformed into an airport where passengers wait for their international flights. Individuals are united in a condition of travel from one world to another. This situation allows for people who would normally never meet to gather. The modern world is an accumulating of cultures and countries. The swords and animals are replaced by technical devices that are a part of the not visible but knowingly present coffee machines, duty-free shopping, etc. The mystical world of Bellini is transformed into a contemporary terrain.  

'...from the land of the Golden Billion..'-AES+F

AES+F & Transgression

AES+F, The Feast of Trimalchio, The Arrival of the Golden Boat

The Feat of Trimalchio seems to be a contemporary and technical twist to an illustration of classical setting in an oriental backdrop.; an atmosphere of luxury as people enjoy a day in the sun. The work of Gaius Petronius Arbiter, a poet during Nero’s reign, Cena Trimalchionis is the narrative to the contemporary digital collage. The story tells of Trimalchio’s, a slave turned nouveau riche philanthropist, famous feast that lasted several days. In fact, the diner is considered to be one of the best parties in literature. Essentially the moral of the Petronius story is to remind individuals of the short mortal life of man and the transgression of decadence as the wealthy seek a temporary paradise. The rich indulge, through money and obscenity, an immoral depiction of the heavens where the unworthy slaves serve their masters.

AES+F alter the context to a hotel setting where individuals pay to enter their brief adaptation of paradise. Like Thomas Couture’s Romans of Decadence (1847) painting of the same narrative, with a backdrop of ancient Rome, the party faces disorder as the served mix with the servers. The only evidence of difference is color of skin. The elite are white, dressed in white, served by the ‘others’. AES+F, also inspired by white, represents today’s wealthy ‘righteous of the Garden of Eden’ (AES+F) served by men and women in traditional dress. The values of the past serve the masters of capitalism and globalization. The servers and the served are not separated by the traditional racist divisions but by the conflicting conventional values. In a moment of indulgence, the two worlds combine in a discombobulated mess where some servers are being attended to by those in white, other detached traditionalists lay or sit and observe, several wealthy are too self-involved to be aware of their surroundings, and then those who are simply being served as by tradition.
  

The plastic-like digital collage is not just an interesting image of social-cultural criticism but based on am actual classical allegory which illustrates issues of the past present in modernity. Whether aware of Petronius poetry or Trimalchios’ lavish party, essentially the theme is cleverly understood. Both cultural stereotypes and traditional decorative elements are the artistic tools that distinguish the division that is evidently mixed in realizing a ‘Global Paradise’ (AES+F).

  

More About AES+F & the Padiglione Venezia
The official Biennale website: http://www.labiennale.org/en/art/exhibition/padiglione-venezia/
AES+F website: www.aesf.group.org 

Bibliography:
AES+F. ‘The Feast of Trimalchio’ in AES+F group (online). http://www.aesf-group.org/index.php?action=cats;cat_id=4;sub_cat_id=1 [last sited: 23:32 on 10/11/2013]

____ ‘Allegoria Sacra’ in AES+F group (online). http://www.aesf-group.org/index.php?action=cats;cat_id=22;sub_cat_id=1 [last sited: 23:35 on 10/11/2013]

Berrein, F. Kenneth. ‘Stereotype Similarities and Contrasts’ in The Journal of Social Psychology. Aug.1, 1969, Vol.78, No.2. Periodical Archives online. Pp. 173-183

Cantwell, Robert. ‘On Stereotype’ in New England Review. Winter 1990. Vol 13. No.2. Periodical Archive Online. Pp. 53-78

Field, Suzette. ‘The 10 Best Parties in Literature: Trimalchi’s Dinner Party from the ‘Satyricon’ in Huffignton Post (online). http://www.huffingtonpost.com/suzette-field/the-best-parties-in-liter_b_4115471.html [last sited: 23:38 on 10/11/2013]

Fishman, Joshua. ‘An Examination of the Process and Function of Social Stereotyping’ in A Journal of Social Psychology. Feb.1, 1956. Vol 43. No.1. Periodicals Archive Online. Pp. 27-64

‘Trimalchio’ in Princeton Education (online). http://www.princeton.edu/~achaney/tmve/wiki100k/docs/Trimalchio.html [last sited: 23:37 on 10/11/2013]

Hairstyle: J. D. 'Okhai Ojeikere

“To watch a ‘hair artist’ going through his precise gestures, like an artist making a sculpture, is fascinating. Hairstyles are an art form.”-J. D. 'Okhai Ojeikere

'HAIRSTYLE'
Over 1000 head shots of women document the on-going series 'Hairstyles' by Nigerian photographer J. D. 'Okhai Ojeikere. The collection placed the artist in the international scene with his most important body of work that archives the elaborate and sculptural technique that Nigerian women identify with. 'The sculptures for a day' are pictures the artist takes chronicling his daily routine as he walks in the streets, meets people in offices, and randomly sites women in public spaces. The images are a type of historical socio-political documentation of Nigeria as it has faced economic changes since the oil boom years. The au courant images are an expression of prosperity of extravagant fabrics described by and though women's hair. 

There is a systematic logic to 'Okhai Ojeikere setup as the women are placed in methodical positions that are repeated, a type of duplication of expression of female style. The photographs have more impact in series as the variety and character of individual craft. The barade, ponytale, and bun are taken to a whole new level as each woman individually creates her own masterpiece. Nigerian women are famous for their approach to hair and 'Okhai Ojeikere has proven it to be art-worthy. 

“All these hairstyles are ephemeral. I want my photographs to be noteworthy traces of them. I always wanted to record moments of beauty, moments of knowledge. Art is life. Without 
art, life would be frozen.”- J. D. 'Okhai Ojeikere

BY ASSOCIATION
What are essentially dead cells are not just let to hang but are maintained, groomed and styles. They order is linked to a type of social association, a so-called hair networking. Seems a very basic element to consider as a social symbol. Hair con be perceived as the window to race, class and gender with underlying sexuality and provocativeness, or the lack of it. People identify themselves through hair. Children recognize at an early age the difference between male and females by its length. Women wear, for most cultures, their hair long while men short. It may appear trivial, but the natural production of something so simple is complicated when it comes to identity politics. 

Hair makes up a component in the eclectic parts that make up an individual. According to Freud, the perception of 'self' is continuous shifting from conscious to unconscious. There are aspects of identity that are intentionally decided and those which are dictated by environment. Those two conflicting conditions, according to Freud, from the knowledge and awareness of 'self'. The Western representation, according to William V. Dunning's 'Post-Modernism and the constructed of the Divisible Self', is a linear process. The identity changes in a logical order as time progresses. Reasonably, this means that individuals partake in a larger association, part of a community, that adapts and alters in a logical, one assumes, order. Hairstyles document periods and change with time, like fashion. The tribal representation of self appear to be timeless, as the identity of individuals, creative as they are, are timeless. The collective representation can represent an ideology of a race, tribe, or group without being defined by time.  

  

J. D. 'Okhai Ojeikere's photographs seems to fit within the second nature of identity. Though it is the artist's intentions to document the progression of Nigerian originality, the color, layout, and consistency speak another language, the one of collective identity of the uninterrupted. The monochromatic systematic images of women are presented similarly, almost copies. The consistency creates an absence of time. What was photographed in the '60s could easily have been taken yesterday. The intricacy and technique of hair is what differentiates them. If the discourse was altering fashions, then the rest of the image, the rest of the body, the rest of the clothing, would be a necessity. In this case, their conscious lacking of such elements, makes hair the only topic of analysis. As Dunning would have preceived it, 'Okhai Ojeikere's Nigeria is unlimited, timeless.

ABOUT THE ARTIST
J. D. 'Okhai Ojeikere was born in 1930 in a rural southwestern village called Ketou, Nigeria. In 1950 he invested in a Brownie D camera and took photography lessons with his neighbor. In 1954 he became the dark room assistant for the Ministry of Information in Ibdan. In 1961, at the end of colonial rule, he worked as a photographer for Television House Ibadan, a part of the first television station in African called Western Nigerian Broadcasting Services. In 1967 he joined the Nigerian Arts Council. It was the same year that inspired his series of photographs that flourished without commercial or patronal support. 'Hairstyles' is a never ending series that has already accumulated estimated 1000 images. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY

Chapman, Yolanda Michele. ''I am not My Hair! Or am I?': Black Women's Transformative Experience in their Self Perception of Abroad and at Home'. (Giorgia: Giorgia State University: Department of Anthropology). 2007, Anthropology thesis, paper 23. 

Dunning, William V. 'Post Modernism and the Construct of Divisible Self' in British Journal of Aesthetics. Vol. 33, No. 2. April 1993. pp. 132-41

Jones, Diana Lopez. 'This is Progress?: Surveying a Century of Native American Stories About Hair' in The Lion and the Unicorn, Vol. 3. No. 2. April 2013. pp.143-56

Pigozzi, Jean. 'J. D. 'Okhai Ojeikere' in Contemporary African Art Collection (online). http://www.caacart.com/pigozzi-artist.php?i=Ojeikere-J-D-Okhai&m=59 (last accessed 15:49, 11/5/2013)

Omenk Gallery. http://omenkagallery.com/?p=1653 (last accessed 15:51, 11/5/2013)



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