False Flag
Solo Show featuring Alexander Reyna
Curator Lynn del Sol
Run Dates: June 6th - July 3rd 2009
Opening Reception: Friday, June 5th, 7pm
Location: Bot und Spiele
Directions: Gartenstr. 21 Berlin, Germany 10115
For additional information, a price list, hi-rez images, and/or an artist press kit, please contact us.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEAS
Brot Undspiele is proud to present the Berlin debut of American multi media artist Alexander Reyna in the solo exhibition entitled "False Flag," guest curated by Lynn del Sol. This exhibition examines the long tradition of art and protest through interactive video, print, and installation work.
All of Alexander Reyna's work starts with a search and retrieval phase. For over ten years this artist has devised an incredibly complex and highly developed digital vocabulary. Crawling, scrolling, and collecting hundreds of thousands of pieces of reference from the web and print media this artist has spent countless days and sleepless nights archiving his library.
His work deals explicitly with our relationship with mass media and corporatized imagery. If you ask him, the artist will tell you that he is, "working in collaboration with corporations," and with others who shape the collective culture. However, Reyna is always subverting those authors’ original intentions and re-purposing their "message" to better serve his ends.
When asked how this new body of work relates to his earlier work, such as the graphically rich videos Star (2008) and BETA (2007) and the subsequential print and paper series, the artist says the relation rests in the methodology of search and seizure. His previous works on some nuanced level were always about the artist himself. He made subjective decisions about the content, cherry-picking the images and pictures and then coupling them with conscious stylist choices.
What's different about this new body of work is that the artist has really removed himself from the equation. He, in essence, has let the project and the research lead him.
At the core, this exhibition centers around economic and political realities and underlying conspiracy theories that function beneath mainstream propaganda. The exhibit plays upon fear. Surrounding the viewers with the sounds and sights of war and crisis, the sensory aspect of fear is overwhelmingly induced by the artist through surveillance cameras, motion detectors, and an all ominous encampment room entitled, "Readiness Exercise 1984".
"Readiness Exercise 1984" engulfs the gallery. Standing over 8 feet tall (2.5m) it is constructed out of simple plywood and is covered in barbed wire. The perimeter is guarded by four cyborg-like, small-scale sculptures; modified replicas of private paramilitary figures entitled Sentinels 1-4. Once inside the windowless room, the viewers’ every move triggers a series of automated, computerized reactions in real-time. The constantly flashing rotation of conspiracy theories intermingle with the recorded live footage of the viewer and the gallery space to create a crescendo of confusion and fear. Big Brother is here and he is definitely watching you.
Just outside of "Readiness Exercise 1984 (REX 84)" is a 7 foot long (2.5m) color-illustrated wall drawing, or map, entitled "The Conspiracy to Rule the World." This work literally draws parallels between hundreds of years of our collective histories and all its major players’ dark secrets, public buffoonery and questionable affiliations. Here the artist weaves and tangles truths with half-truths
Brot Undspiele is proud to present the Berlin debut of American multi media artist Alexander Reyna in the solo exhibition entitled "False Flag," guest curated by Lynn del Sol. This exhibition examines the long tradition of art and protest through interactive video, print, and installation work.
All of Alexander Reyna's work starts with a search and retrieval phase. For over ten years this artist has devised an incredibly complex and highly developed digital vocabulary. Crawling, scrolling, and collecting hundreds of thousands of pieces of reference from the web and print media this artist has spent countless days and sleepless nights archiving his library.
His work deals explicitly with our relationship with mass media and corporatized imagery. If you ask him, the artist will tell you that he is, "working in collaboration with corporations," and with others who shape the collective culture. However, Reyna is always subverting those authors’ original intentions and re-purposing their "message" to better serve his ends.
When asked how this new body of work relates to his earlier work, such as the graphically rich videos Star (2008) and BETA (2007) and the subsequential print and paper series, the artist says the relation rests in the methodology of search and seizure. His previous works on some nuanced level were always about the artist himself. He made subjective decisions about the content, cherry-picking the images and pictures and then coupling them with conscious stylist choices.
What's different about this new body of work is that the artist has really removed himself from the equation. He, in essence, has let the project and the research lead him.
At the core, this exhibition centers around economic and political realities and underlying conspiracy theories that function beneath mainstream propaganda. The exhibit plays upon fear. Surrounding the viewers with the sounds and sights of war and crisis, the sensory aspect of fear is overwhelmingly induced by the artist through surveillance cameras, motion detectors, and an all ominous encampment room entitled, "Readiness Exercise 1984".
"Readiness Exercise 1984" engulfs the gallery. Standing over 8 feet tall (2.5m) it is constructed out of simple plywood and is covered in barbed wire. The perimeter is guarded by four cyborg-like, small-scale sculptures; modified replicas of private paramilitary figures entitled Sentinels 1-4. Once inside the windowless room, the viewers’ every move triggers a series of automated, computerized reactions in real-time. The constantly flashing rotation of conspiracy theories intermingle with the recorded live footage of the viewer and the gallery space to create a crescendo of confusion and fear. Big Brother is here and he is definitely watching you.
Just outside of "Readiness Exercise 1984 (REX 84)" is a 7 foot long (2.5m) color-illustrated wall drawing, or map, entitled "The Conspiracy to Rule the World." This work literally draws parallels between hundreds of years of our collective histories and all its major players’ dark secrets, public buffoonery and questionable affiliations. Here the artist weaves and tangles truths with half-truths
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Alexander Reyna, REX 84, 2009, mixed media interactive installation with electronic head and looping vide, 96x96x96in (244x244x244cm)Image courtesy of {CTS} creative thriftshop, New York
and goes on to say, "on some level all conspiracy theories have amounts of plausibility. This means that anything, from the least likely to be real to the most obviously real have nuggets of truth in them which are at the center of the conspiracy. In the end, this is what makes conspiracies compelling-we feel something real in them that tugs at us to believe."
As humans we are resilient and have the ability to push fear aside and carry on. Luckily (or unluckily perhaps) as humans we are also reactive and thus when faced with Reyna’s staged encampment scenario our gutteral reactions are stimulated and we recall all that we know to fear and doubt. Yet knowing may be at the root of the problem, given the dark cloud of secrecy under which we are kept and of which Reyna reminds us. There is still a lot that they’re not telling us- a lot that we know that they’re not telling us, which is why the artist has decided to trap us in this exhibition, a reality that we cannot perhaps delay and from which we cannot escape.
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With the support of CTS and Brot un Spiele gallery a full color, 30 page catalogue has been produced for this exhibition. Please click here or contactthe gallery for purchase.
about the artist: Alexander Reyna was born in Chad, Africa in 1973. He currently lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. For over ten years his work has dealt with the deconstruction of the explicit relationship between mass media and corporatized imagery. His award-winning video work has been exhibited around the world, most recently at `Over the Rainbow'' at Yoo Art Space, in Seoul, Korea. He holds professorship at The School of Visual Arts (SVA), Mercy College, as well as at New York University (NYU). Alexander Reyna received his BFA from University of New Hampshire and his MFA from Pratt Institute.
about the curator: Lynn del Sol was born and raised in New York. She is the director and founder of {CTS} creative thriftshop. Actively organizing over twenty nomadic exhibitions and events a year. She was co-curator of the Lebanese Pavillion at the Venice Biennale in 2005 and has volunteered in the education department at the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA). She held directorship at Jack the Pelican Presents (Brooklyn, NY.) and at Xanadu* (New York, NY). She was recently invited to become a board member of the Williamsburg Gallery Association (WGA).
about the gallery: Bot und Spiele is the German translation of the old Latin precept PANEM ET CIRCENSES – Bread and Circuses (or Games) for ruling the populace by free food and entertainment. Since 2005, brot.undspiele galerie berlin has presented artists whose works contribute unconventional impulses to art. They concentrate on contemporary art of the last 40 years.
As humans we are resilient and have the ability to push fear aside and carry on. Luckily (or unluckily perhaps) as humans we are also reactive and thus when faced with Reyna’s staged encampment scenario our gutteral reactions are stimulated and we recall all that we know to fear and doubt. Yet knowing may be at the root of the problem, given the dark cloud of secrecy under which we are kept and of which Reyna reminds us. There is still a lot that they’re not telling us- a lot that we know that they’re not telling us, which is why the artist has decided to trap us in this exhibition, a reality that we cannot perhaps delay and from which we cannot escape.
###
With the support of CTS and Brot un Spiele gallery a full color, 30 page catalogue has been produced for this exhibition. Please click here or contactthe gallery for purchase.
about the artist: Alexander Reyna was born in Chad, Africa in 1973. He currently lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. For over ten years his work has dealt with the deconstruction of the explicit relationship between mass media and corporatized imagery. His award-winning video work has been exhibited around the world, most recently at `Over the Rainbow'' at Yoo Art Space, in Seoul, Korea. He holds professorship at The School of Visual Arts (SVA), Mercy College, as well as at New York University (NYU). Alexander Reyna received his BFA from University of New Hampshire and his MFA from Pratt Institute.
about the curator: Lynn del Sol was born and raised in New York. She is the director and founder of {CTS} creative thriftshop. Actively organizing over twenty nomadic exhibitions and events a year. She was co-curator of the Lebanese Pavillion at the Venice Biennale in 2005 and has volunteered in the education department at the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA). She held directorship at Jack the Pelican Presents (Brooklyn, NY.) and at Xanadu* (New York, NY). She was recently invited to become a board member of the Williamsburg Gallery Association (WGA).
about the gallery: Bot und Spiele is the German translation of the old Latin precept PANEM ET CIRCENSES – Bread and Circuses (or Games) for ruling the populace by free food and entertainment. Since 2005, brot.undspiele galerie berlin has presented artists whose works contribute unconventional impulses to art. They concentrate on contemporary art of the last 40 years.
Installation View: False Flag, Brot Undspiele Gallery, Berlin, Germany 2009Image courtesy of {CTS} creative thriftshop, New York
Installation View: False Flag, Brot Undspiele Gallery, Berlin, Germany 2009Image courtesy of {CTS} creative thriftshop, New York
Installation View: False Flag, Brot Undspiele Gallery, Berlin, Germany 2009Image courtesy of {CTS} creative thriftshop, New York
Installation View: False Flag, Brot Undspiele Gallery, Berlin, Germany 2009Image courtesy of {CTS} creative thriftshop, New York
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Alexander Reyna, Sentinel (detail-1), 2009, mixed media sculpture with electronic head and looping video, edition of 8, 12x12x60in (30x30x152cm)Image courtesy of {CTS} creative thriftshop, New York
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Alexander Reyna, Sentinel (detail-4), 2009, mixed media sculpture with electronic head and looping video, edition of 8, 12x12x60in (30x30x152cm)Image courtesy of {CTS} creative thriftshop, New York
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Alexander Reyna, Sentinel, 2009, mixed media sculpture with electronic head and looping video, edition of 8, 12x12x60in (30x30x152cm)Image courtesy of {CTS} creative thriftshop, New York
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Alexander Reyna, The Conspiracy to Rule the World, 2009, pen, ink, pencil on paper, 60x84in (152x213cm)Image courtesy of {CTS} creative thriftshop, New York
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Alexander Reyna, The Conspiracy to Rule the World (detail-1), 2009, pen, ink, pencil on paper, 60x84in (152x213cm)Image courtesy of {CTS} creative thriftshop, New York
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Alexander Reyna, Untitled 1_1, 2009, digital C-Print, 24x14in (61x36cm) unframedImage courtesy of {CTS} creative thriftshop, New York
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Alexander Reyna, Untitled 3_1, 2009, digital C-Print, 24x14in (61x36cm) unframedImage courtesy of {CTS} creative thriftshop, New York
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Alexander Reyna, Untitled 2_1, 2009, digital C-Print, 24x14in (61x36cm) unframedImage courtesy of {CTS} creative thriftshop, New York
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Alexander Reyna, Untitled 4_1, 2009, digital C-Print, 24x14in (61x36cm) unframedImage courtesy of {CTS} creative thriftshop, New York