"The dog only wants to play!"
'Dog Tales' series, 3rd episode (1st episode - 2nd episode)
By Fashionoffice's publisher Karin Sawetz
"The dog only wants to play!" I said laughing to Marc Cabana* in my dream. The scenery was very realistic and was in difference to my common dream experiences of long duration without sudden breaks or changes to other locations. Everything happened in this realistic dream at the Giardini in Venice.
*The figure Marc Cabana appeared already in the first 'Dog Tales'-episode.
"But I don't want," says Marc Cabana standing at the dog cages of the German pavilion during Biennale Arte Venezia. He feels provoked by the critical fixing stare of the black watch dog. Who is the one who causes a security problem? Just as the dog would ask "Who has to be caged?" We are standing just at the entry to the pavilion and the installation by Anne Imhof has already hit the target! The dogs in the cages let Marc Cabana feel insecure and triggered his doubts. He is a nice guy; just like his name suggests: he loves the beach and swimming pools, he is easy. He enjoys to show his muscular body - especially when the audience is female.
"Do you want to go inside?" I tried to convince him by moving his body into the direction of the staircase.
"No, I think I don't like this installation." Marc Cabana denied by turning his head and looking down to his feet "It's oppressing to see people walking above others, looking down on them. I saw a video and I don't want to experience it."
"It's a situation how it happens everywhere today - you're walking every day through the life of others. It's your job to do so without letting them know that you're doing it. Anne Imhof shows what many people don't want to realize."
The typical Marc Cabana playful smile is back on his face and with a flash of Trump triumph empowerment he counters "Art is fake such as media!"
"Only when artists aren't well educated and badly equipped without scientific research knowledge, or when they are paid for telling what's not the truth."
"Why should artists have any research education?" Marc Cabana is a very serious civil servant. He finished the minor education program but has reached in self-education the qualification for studying law. He never lost the deficit of low cultural education. This doesn't diminish his skills to formulate contracts or to calculate the consequences of a legal move. He is a great chess gamer! But he hasn't any senses for the artistic means of expression.
"Let's take the German pavilion as example: the artist references today's society. Therefore she didn't dig in her fantasy but collected facts about circumstances which affect everyday life. Art work starts with social research; facts are the sources for the themes of art. This is the reason why you are so impressed - even when you say it's suppressing, it affects you. We are often closing our eyes for the things which surround us. The emotion which was evoked by the installation is intended and a good sign that your senses are awake."
"Why is it an intention that the visitors are emotionally moved?"
"Because we - inclusively you - are responsible for holding back others, for suppressing them. We are the society and we are nowadays in the position to fight for a fair society."
"This is the job of politicians and not ours."
"And who gives this power to the politicians?"
Marc Cabana is in doubt: "But how can I become sure that the politicians I'm going to vote for are the right ones."
"You can never be sure. It's important to look behind the scenes such as structures of political parties, the reality behind the staging, listen discussions in front of media, watch closer who stands behind the media - and even look closer who stands behind art (incl. film, theater, literature,...) which has a similar power like media as provider of objective information as well as instrument of manipulation."
Now, Marc Cabana becomes interested in his country's art presentation: "What happens at the Austrian pavilion this year at Biennale Arte Venezia?"
We walked to the Austrian pavilion. A great pavilion. In front of the house, artist Erwin Wurm planted a truck vertically. Inside the truck, visitors can go upstairs to a platform which invites to look over the Mediterranean Sea. The first association with the sculpture was the tragedy which happened 2015 in Austria nearby the Hungarian border where 71 people died in a truck. Austrians won't forget the tragedy so fast. And the invitation to look over the sea evokes associations with the migration movements from Libya to Italy which is nowadays one of the main concerns in Austrian and European politics. The artwork doesn't deliver any answers to the problem - but it makes aware.
Marc Cabana is surprised "I never knew that art is so political."
"Biennale Arte Venezia isn't Disney land. Be prepared for merciless truth. And don't expect party political campaigning. Let's go further and look out what comes next!"
By Fashionoffice's publisher Karin Sawetz
"The dog only wants to play!" I said laughing to Marc Cabana* in my dream. The scenery was very realistic and was in difference to my common dream experiences of long duration without sudden breaks or changes to other locations. Everything happened in this realistic dream at the Giardini in Venice.
*The figure Marc Cabana appeared already in the first 'Dog Tales'-episode.
"But I don't want," says Marc Cabana standing at the dog cages of the German pavilion during Biennale Arte Venezia. He feels provoked by the critical fixing stare of the black watch dog. Who is the one who causes a security problem? Just as the dog would ask "Who has to be caged?" We are standing just at the entry to the pavilion and the installation by Anne Imhof has already hit the target! The dogs in the cages let Marc Cabana feel insecure and triggered his doubts. He is a nice guy; just like his name suggests: he loves the beach and swimming pools, he is easy. He enjoys to show his muscular body - especially when the audience is female.
"Do you want to go inside?" I tried to convince him by moving his body into the direction of the staircase.
"No, I think I don't like this installation." Marc Cabana denied by turning his head and looking down to his feet "It's oppressing to see people walking above others, looking down on them. I saw a video and I don't want to experience it."
"It's a situation how it happens everywhere today - you're walking every day through the life of others. It's your job to do so without letting them know that you're doing it. Anne Imhof shows what many people don't want to realize."
The typical Marc Cabana playful smile is back on his face and with a flash of Trump triumph empowerment he counters "Art is fake such as media!"
"Only when artists aren't well educated and badly equipped without scientific research knowledge, or when they are paid for telling what's not the truth."
"Why should artists have any research education?" Marc Cabana is a very serious civil servant. He finished the minor education program but has reached in self-education the qualification for studying law. He never lost the deficit of low cultural education. This doesn't diminish his skills to formulate contracts or to calculate the consequences of a legal move. He is a great chess gamer! But he hasn't any senses for the artistic means of expression.
"Let's take the German pavilion as example: the artist references today's society. Therefore she didn't dig in her fantasy but collected facts about circumstances which affect everyday life. Art work starts with social research; facts are the sources for the themes of art. This is the reason why you are so impressed - even when you say it's suppressing, it affects you. We are often closing our eyes for the things which surround us. The emotion which was evoked by the installation is intended and a good sign that your senses are awake."
"Why is it an intention that the visitors are emotionally moved?"
"Because we - inclusively you - are responsible for holding back others, for suppressing them. We are the society and we are nowadays in the position to fight for a fair society."
"This is the job of politicians and not ours."
"And who gives this power to the politicians?"
Marc Cabana is in doubt: "But how can I become sure that the politicians I'm going to vote for are the right ones."
"You can never be sure. It's important to look behind the scenes such as structures of political parties, the reality behind the staging, listen discussions in front of media, watch closer who stands behind the media - and even look closer who stands behind art (incl. film, theater, literature,...) which has a similar power like media as provider of objective information as well as instrument of manipulation."
Now, Marc Cabana becomes interested in his country's art presentation: "What happens at the Austrian pavilion this year at Biennale Arte Venezia?"
We walked to the Austrian pavilion. A great pavilion. In front of the house, artist Erwin Wurm planted a truck vertically. Inside the truck, visitors can go upstairs to a platform which invites to look over the Mediterranean Sea. The first association with the sculpture was the tragedy which happened 2015 in Austria nearby the Hungarian border where 71 people died in a truck. Austrians won't forget the tragedy so fast. And the invitation to look over the sea evokes associations with the migration movements from Libya to Italy which is nowadays one of the main concerns in Austrian and European politics. The artwork doesn't deliver any answers to the problem - but it makes aware.
Marc Cabana is surprised "I never knew that art is so political."
"Biennale Arte Venezia isn't Disney land. Be prepared for merciless truth. And don't expect party political campaigning. Let's go further and look out what comes next!"
