Yan Duyvendak: Encore; Retrospective

Documentation of a performance event that took place on June 4th 2009 in the context of Yan Duvendak's retrospective exhibition at Plugin in Basel, Switzerland (exhibition date: June 5th-August 23rd 2009).

Yan Duyvendak (*1965 in Holland, lives in Geneva) is one of the most important media- and performance-artists in Switzerland. His work addresses media and their effects on society. On stage he merges live-performance with TV-images, film sequences or computer games.

Youre Dead!, 2004, 15 Min.
Continuing his exploration of the new icons offered up by consumer society, Yan Duyvendak, in military fatigues, armed with a machine gun, is the incarnation of a character from a video game. Mixing different levels of reality, he passes imperceptibly from the role of the player to that of the soldier on the screen, only to finish as a real soldier. Questioning the link between the representation of violence and violence itself, the artist denounces in one gesture the unbearable lightness of war games and the all-too-real terror that inspires them.

You invited me, Dont you Remember?, 2003, 20 Min.
You invited me, Dont you Remember circles around the „evil character in films. Excerpts of movies such as Silence of the Lambs, Fargo or Dangerous Liasons are fragmented by extracting sound or image, which are replaced by Duyvendaks intervention. Duyvendak synchronizes the films with his voice or with sketchy acting movements. Evil appears in all its forms: Ambition, corruption, vanity, fear, ignorance yet it is, paradoxically, robbed of all appearance.

My Name is Neo (for fifteen minutes), 2001, 15 Min.
Can one be the elect for fifteen minutes? In My Name is Neo (for fifteen minutes)
Duyvendak litteraly embodies the hero of the movie and reflects the wish to identify with the with an idol.

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• Yan Duyvendak
• Encore
• Retrospective
• Performance
• plug.in