June 17 – 21, 2020
2020년 6월 17일 – 21일
Art Lab 1, CICA Museum
28 Kisses I Bought on Craigslist
How fascinating is the new form Intimacy has shapen into; in a world of sharing, liking, subscribing and following, to what extent are we actually connecting to one another? There is an odd sense of familiarity with the unknown, pertaining to the potentiality to be reached from one’s device. Indifference to Television decades (60’s-80’s approximately), in the new media generation we all have the means to stream ourselves to the public, nevertheless, LIVE! The division between “Actors” and “Real People”(, “fiction” and “reality”), has changed. Consequently, numerous videos generating countless people documenting unbounded acts are NOW available. From people burning themselves and binge eating to revealing dark and pervasive secrets, while sharing it all in front of the invisible audience, has made us both the Spectacle and the Spectator. If in the past there was a barrier of fiction, that barrier no longer exists. Even with shows such as Dallas, causing a public sensation over the murder of the character J.R. Ewing (establishing the catchphrase “Who shot J.R?”) the concern, however real and public, was limited to the barrier of fiction it held. The sensation over the “murder” of J.R was merely preparation for the world of social media today, where the real operates as a recording to the fiction.
Artist Shahar Kramer presents video-based work that speaks to the commodification of the human body and its personal information. The image created in 28 Kisses I Bought from Craigslist tells a story of life in the reality of social distancing with an emphasis on our internal need for physical touch. Her work exists between art and life, oscillating between documentary and staged production. 28 Kisses I Bought from Craigslist is the result of ads she had posted on the website Craigslist in late 2018, offering people online to purchase videos from them kissing a partner. Paying her subjects a dollar per minute, this project creates a portrait of 2020 through an historical theme, such as the kiss — a narrative that has been repeated in so many different forms over the course of art history — from Brancusi, to Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol and many more. The formation of communication reinforced, not only by the medium of the project (Craigslist), but by the iconography itself, has foreseen the unfolding events of our most recent times; novel social distancing. The portrayal of 2020 reflected in the project is that of a global community aquipet with progressive tools for communication, a radically secluded environment and society, a place where everything is up for sale, a mutation of commodity and of Intimacy as well. Paying her subjects by the length (equal to quantity) of their product (video), the piece examines notions of labor and alienation (as Karl Marx described in his book Capital,) by giving the participants the option to exhaust their kiss in the pursuit of commodifying it, thus increasing its value, to the point where it becomes a physical challenge.
“The networks in which poor images circulate thus constitute both a platform for a fragile new common interest and a battleground for commercial and national agendas. They contain experimental and artistic material, but also incredible amounts of porn and paranoia. While the territory of poor images allows access to excluded imagery, it is also permeated by the most advanced commodification techniques. While it enables the users’ active participation in the creation and distribution of content, it also drafts them into production. Users become the editors, critics, translators, and (co-)authors of poor images.” (from “In Defence of the Poor Image” by Hito Steyerl)
Shahar Kramer is a cross-disciplinary Israeli artist and writer based in New York. Her practice combines photography, sculpture, performance, video and new media in order to explore issues of communication, intimacy, geopolitics, and human behaviors. A recent graduate of The School of Visual Arts, Kramer has showcased in group shows in Art Basel, MACAA, Kunstraum gallery, and more. She has been selected by MACAA for the student award and graduated her BFA with honors. Her writings and work have been published in Erev Rav, Grant and Az.iz and Vellum.
Shahar Kramer, “28 Kisses I Bought on Craigslist” (2019)