Telenovela

Idea and concept | Carla Bobadilla, Hansel Sato
Curatorial consultant | Andreas Spiegl
Artists | Basile Baixe, Carla Degenhardt, Paula Delgado, Vasilena Gankovska, Fran Ilich, Carlos Perez, Oscar Sanchez, Hansel Sato, Katrin Wölger

When it comes to shaping public opinion, television has developed into an influential medium. This has less to do with the integrity or objectivity of the ideas and contents conveyed, but rather with the desire to relate to a type of reality that is not necessarily real, but appears in the guise of images. As an image and translated into the reality of the media, reality remains at a distance. What appears as reality is the phantom of a mediality of reality as such. In order to ensure this mediality of reality, it is essential to supply a projection of reality that is formed according to the conditions stipulated by mediality, so to speak: to produce the projection of a telegenic reality. Here the concept of telegenic does not so much refer to the issue of image quality as to the aesthetics of distance. In this sense, the aesthetics of television aims to communicate an immediate closeness to reality, whereas it simultaneously promises to keep this closeness at a distance. In order to display distance, however close it may be, various television shows have been conceived – be it soap operas, reality TV, or telenovelas. The latter is of Latin American origin and dominates television programs as much as common ideas about what everyday life could or should be. The density and significance of such series has taken on such a dimension that it seems legitimate to consider telenovelas as a dominant cultural factor that determines our social and cultural lives, as well as our ideas about politics. An artistic discourse devoted to the political, social, and cultural aspects of everyday life can hardly escape dealing with the TV shows in question. They devise influential characters and role models, invent habits, and are a manifestation of stereotypes: heterosexuality coupled with sexist perceptions of women, a tendency toward the immutability of socio-political everyday life, the establishment of social role models, economic tragicomedies, etc.

The "Telenovela" project conducted at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna was initiated through a proposal made by a group of students and graduates that are of Latin American origin themselves or were confronted with telenovelas when living in Southeastern Europe. Subsequently, Hansel Sato, Carlos Perez, and Vasilena Gankovska invited further artists to join them in compiling a small exhibition on the subject that creatively reflects upon its cultural components. The medial spectrum of their practical work ranges from drawing and photography to sound installation, performance, and video, while their artistic perspectives vary from documentary material to parody. Far from intending to supply a comprehensive picture of the subject’s complexity, the project has been designed as a critical sketch. What is conveyed by this sketch is the intersection of an artistic discourse and problematic issues that have become manifest in everyday cultural life. This intersection requires more from art practice than the mere production of works of art. Here art practice implicitly also encompasses research, interdisciplinary translation, methodological criticism, and curatorial work. The Academy of Fine Arts Vienna is pleased to offer a forum for discourse to its students and graduates, and to the artists invited by them, that permits open discussion of their work.

Text: Andreas Spiegl
Translation: Wolfgang Astelbauer

Basile Baixe
Born in Marseille, France, in 1984, lives and works in Marseille.
Studied at Ecole des Beaux Arts, Marseille (ESBAM)
Projects, films (selection) | 2007  “Radiodiction”, experimental documentary |  2006  “Passing by”, found footage film | since July 2006  “Radiodiction”, concept and programing of a weekly one-hour radio program, Radio Galère 88.4 fm (Marseille, France)
Exhibitions, screenings | 2007  “Sans-titre (mec)”, Video, UPE13, Marseille, Fance; “Souvenir d’un paysage croate”, Video, Festival de Vidéo Expérimental – FeVE, Marseille, France | 2004  “Sexe Machine”, Galerie du Tableau Bis, Marseille, Luminy, France | 2003  “Mon Corps du Sol au Plafond”, Atelier Séruse, Marseille, France

Carla Degenhardt
Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1963, lives and works in Vienna.  Studied painting at the Academy of Fine Arts “Prilidiano Pueyrredón” in Buenos Aires. Making use of video performance, film, and photography, as well as drawing, object and stage design, in her work Degenhardt is focusing on the representation of the body and power structures as love and sexuality, of social role models, emigration and language, as well as of art activities and market, without losing sight for irony and tragicomedy.
Projects  (selection) | 2007  “Entsprechungen”, Remise, Bludenz, Austria; “go to hell money!”, Denkraum, Vienna, Austria | 2006  “Realitäten”, Fotogalerie Wien, Vienna, Austria; “Latin Lobby”, Quartier 21/MuseumsQuartier, Vienna, Austria | 2005  “Ein wirkliches Leben hinter dem Balkon – ein Abseilen von Romeo und Julia”, film, Schauspielhaus Wien, Vienna, Austria (2007 several international film festivals as Washington, San Diego, Istambul, and Kalkutta) | 2004  “blind taste”, Museo der Arte Moderno, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Links:
Basis Vienna

Paula Delgado
Born in Montevideo, Uruguay, in 1977, lives and works in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and Montevideo, Uruguay.
Autodidact. Society, gender, urban spaces, and media phenomena are focuses in her varied photo, video, and performance work. From 2001 to 2002, Delgado worked at the production of the telenovela “Uruguay Maravillao” together with the artists group “Sexy”.
Exhibitions (selection) | 2008  Rockumenta 1, Mexico City, Mexico | 2007  Bienal de Sao Paulo-Valencia, Valencia, Spain | 2006 “ Buenos Aires Loop FOL ”, ursula blickle videolounge, Kunsthalle wien, Vienna, Austria; Buenos Aires Photo, Argentina | Centro Cultural Pablo de la Torriente Brau, Havana, Cuba | 2002  Art in General, New York, USA

Vasilena Gankovska
Born in Troyan, Bulgaria, in 1978, lives and works in Vienna, Austria, since 2001.
Studied at the National Art Academy in Sofia, Bulgaria, and at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, Austria.
In her artistic work she is dealing with questions of representation of urban spaces, recreation areas, and working situations. Actually, she is working on her PhD focusing on “Entwicklung des Stadtraums in den s. g. Transformationsgesellschaften am Beispiel von Sofia und seine künstlerische Repräsentation [Development of urban space in the so-called transformation society taking Sofia and its artistic representations as an example]” at the Institute for Art Theory and Cultural Studies at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, Austria.
Links:
Basis Wien

Siemens ArtLab

Fran Ilich
Born in Tijuana, Mexico, in 1975, lives and works in Mexico City, Mexico.
Media artist and author of the novels “Metro-Pop” (Ediciones SM, 1997) and “Tekno-Guerrilla”, recently published in Spain. He was editor of “Sputnik Cultura Digital magazine” and screenwriter of “Interacción” (Discovery Channel). From “Fiction Department”, a group working on theory and practice of narrative media, he administrates the possibleworlds.org server which has hosted the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN). His telenovela “Ugly & rebel” with appearances by Shakira and Subcomanante Marcos has been censored by YouTube and Televisa. He participated in several editions of Transmediale, Documenta 12 Magazines, Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival, Antídoto, MIT Media in Transition, Electronic Literature Organization Symposium, World Social Forum Nairobi, La Habana International Digital Art Exhibit, Ars Electronica Free speech camp (at invitation of ars electronica and public netbase, 2000), and Berlinale Talent Campus. Amongst others he was initiator and director of the Borderhack festival and of seminars on digital narrative at Universidad Internacional de Andalucía, Sevilla, Spain, and Fynske Kunstakademi, Odensee, Denmark.
Links:
http://possibleworlds.org/
http://www.documenta12blog.de/?p=431
http://sabotage.tv/

Carlos Perez
Born in Antigua, Guatemala, in 1981, lives and works in Vienna, Austria.
1999–2003 Escuela Nacional de Artes Plasticas Rafael Rodriguez Padilla, Guatemala City, and since 2004 he is enrolled in the Fine Arts study program at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna (Prof. Walter Obholzer and Erwin Bohatsch). Solo shows (selection) | 2006  “Menschenmeer”, AAI-Galerie, Vienna, Austria | 2005  “Tsunami”, Lateinamerika Institut, Vienna, Austria | 1999  Sculptures and painting in Guatemala City Group exhibitions and projects (selection) | 2007  “Lateinamerika Filmfestival” at Das Kino, Salzburg, Austria | 2006  “Latin Lobby”, Quartier 21/MuseumsQuartier, Vienna, Austria | 2005  “Soho in Ottakring”, Vienna, Austria | 2004  Wind Art Festival “Jeju”, South Korea

Oscar Sánchez
Born in Colima, Mexico, lives and works since 1995 in Mexico and Vienna, Austria.
Studied at Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Mexico.
Films | 2007  “Cercatori die Paradiso”, film festival Latino americano de Oaxaca, Mexico | 2001–2002  “The Killer”, film festival Jovenes realizadores Zaragoza, Spain | 1999–2001  “Sinaloa Cowboys”, film Festival del Cinema Latino americano di Trieste, Italy
Exhibition (selection) | 2006  “Latin Lobby”, Quartier 21/MuseumsQuartier, Vienna, Austria; “Big Bang!”, Musée d’Art et d’Industrie, Saint-Etienne, Musée International des Arts modestes, Sète, France | 2004–2005  “Narcochic Narcochoc”, Musée international des Arts modestes, Sète, France | 2004  “Pecados Capitales”, Mexico City

Hansel Sato
Born in Trujillo, Peru, in 1969, in 1998 he got the Unesco-Aschenberg Scholarship for Art and came to Vienna, Austria, where he lives and works since then.
Studied Painting and Graphic Arts at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna with Prof. Franz Graf, he was lecturer at Universidad Católica in Lima, Peru. He was international representative of Peru at several biennials. Several prices. Since 2006 he is freelance curator in Latin America and Vienna.
In his work Sato is focusing on political and social mechanisms of inclusion and exclusion in the context of globalization.
Exhibitions und projects (selection) | 2007  “Brücken schlagen zwischen Kassel, Lima und Trujillo”, interactive art education program in the context of Documenta 12, Kassel, Germany | 2006  “Latin Lobby”, Quartier 21/MuseumsQuartier, Vienna, Austria | 2005  “Belgrad diary”, Museum of Applied Arts, Belgrade, Serbia

Katrin Wölger
Born in Admont, Austria, in 1967, lives and works in Vienna, Austria.
Performance and video artist: theater (until 1997), experimental theater (Teatro Abraxa, Rom, J. Grotowski, Pontedera, etc.), solo performances (since 1995), videos, installations, actionist work.
Wölger is working with “alter egos”, one to four years for each series/topic | 2007–  “Die Kusine [The Cousin]”, the human being in the network, the individual within the society; secret (and) societies | 2003–  “Miss Take”, she defends the right to fail, to be wrong, to be bad, she loves the perfect imperfect; at a time where everything is getting “better” errors becomes more important | 2001–  “Kalinka”, the working woman, the longing for another life/country, feminism in/and communism; Russia | 1999–  “Ana Fagri”, splitted woman – blond, red, and black –, on ideas of paradise in Christianism and Islam, fortune, bad luck, and suicide | 1995  “Valeska”, tribute to the grotesque dancer Valska Gert.
Links:
Tanzquartier Wien, artists data base