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<i>34c3 intro</i>

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Saud Al-Zaid: What I want to talk about

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today is the conundrum of reality and non-[br]reality of our world and the fictional or

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artificial worlds and works of art and[br]everything from what graces museums and

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galleries to what enters our living rooms[br]in the form of television or video games.

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The title as you may know is in reference[br]to the works of Walter Benjamin, the

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most important procrastinator in modern[br]history. Benjamin is a pioneer in Media

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Studies with his study of cinema and how[br]we consume media on a societal level in

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dark movie theaters from Berlin to New[br]York watching technically reproduced

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images like the one we have in this Beamer[br]and today streamed on the Internet over

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and over again his essay is one of the[br]most assigned texts in the humanities

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itself technically reproduced and[br]culturally consumed on a hyper meta level.

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Its primary theoretical focus is on[br]ideology specifically Benjamins rather

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unique Marxist perspective about political[br]progress and the fascist political order

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that he was working under during World War[br]2. What I want to connect this to is what

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I call the current conflict what others[br]call the war on terror and the things that

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go along with it. So over here is a the[br]first page of a legal memo regarding the

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applicability of federal criminal laws and[br]the Constitution to the contemplated to

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the contemplated lethal operations against[br]Anwar al-Aulaqi. Aulaqi was not a military

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general or a terrorist tactician he was[br]primarily a propagandist. This authorizes

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the killing of an American citizen without[br]trial by jury an authorized violation of

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the Constitution in both the 6th and if[br]you think about it the 1st amendment. The

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violation of the 6th amendment hasn't[br]happened in the American in the American

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context since the Civil War and this one[br]was executed by a Reaper drone. This is an

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artifact from reality. This artifact I[br]want to connect to the artifacts of our

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current fiction such as those found all[br]over in popular media of an intolerant

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Muslim world[br]raging with anger against your freedoms.

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As the West violates our lives and bodies[br]in the hundreds of thousands and indeed

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violating its own rules. And why art? It's[br]because the relationship between art and

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reality is not an easy one. I want to[br]point that even the most basic terms of

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our current reality say a word like[br]assassination or assassin have multiple

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layers and historical residues. The term[br]assassin comes from the Arabic Hashashin or

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those who take hashish or stoners. It was[br]during the Crusades that the assassin word

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entered into European languages and as[br]meaning specifically as someone who does

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targeted political killing. It's based on[br]a myth or fictional propaganda against a

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small sect in Islam known as the Ismailis.[br]The story went that there was an old man

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of the mountain who would take young men[br]to the garden and give them so much

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hashish that they believed they were in[br]heaven. In more elaborate versions there

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were gardens full of naked women music[br]wine you know you get the idea. When the

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hashish wore off and they're kind of going[br]over there hashish hangover the old man

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would convince the young men that the only[br]way for them to go back to heaven is by

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killing one of his enemies in what is[br]effectively a suicide mission. When the

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young assassins, the hashashin, were[br]killed the immediately in a sense come

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back to the garden. The purpose of this[br]story is to make the assassins look weak

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willed and even stupid - though the sect[br]may have performed political

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assassinations, marijuana was not likely[br]involved. The story is probably completely

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bullshit. But now we're stuck with the[br]word assassin. It's a fictional error or

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propaganda glitch in our current[br]linguistic reality. Can you spot the

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difference? In case you need the slide[br]explained to you: at the top its drone

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operators up there and in the bottom its[br]Cheech and Chong. Assassins - hashashin or

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vice versa. My argument is that the[br]difference between reality and fiction or

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our serious acknowledgement that this is[br]real and that over there is myth, just a

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story, just the TV show, just a video game[br]is an ideological difference on the level

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of ideas during the current conflict.[br]Ideas that have a life of their own that

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are animated by new technologies like[br]pieces of paper in the Middle Ages that

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propagated the crusader myths of the[br]assassins. Cultural ADIF artifacts reflect

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multiple facets those signs of human[br]advancement and human tragedy. The work of

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art even as an object has a political[br]valence the artist and the and the artwork

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are all constituent parts of what we[br]colloquially call the art scene. That

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somewhat kind of toxic social construct[br]that in turn makes up the art market and

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even more toxic construct. Does anyone[br]recognize the unimpressive painting? You

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normally wouldn't - except it was done by[br]a young struggling Austrian artist by the

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name of Adolf Hitler. Hitler was rejected[br]from art school struggling to pay rent in

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a gentrifying but vibrant Vienna, the[br]first steps in a sequence of events that

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gave us the most devastating leader of the[br]last century. In case you're wondering:

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yes I'm saying the art world gave us[br]Hitler. Speaking about art I don't want to

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make like the Fasil with the Trump[br]transition but it's hard to avoid.

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Television creatives were the minds behind[br]The Apprentice and the creation of Trump

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as a public persona with leadership[br]qualities. Maybe life imitates art maybe

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art imitates life but reality television[br]might be remembered as the highest form of

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terrorism. Okay so let's move on to good[br]or better arts at least. Chris Burden's

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1981 art installation a Tale of Two Cities[br]is composed of 26 tons of sand rocks

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plants and thousands of toys depicting a[br]war zone. It shows the frontier of two

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bordering states at war with one of the[br]states being larger and more developed

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than the other. There is a harbor and[br]airport and mountainous region, toy

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airplanes and fighter jets hang overhead[br]in flight. There is a small town an urban

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center and what looks like a tribal area[br]and here you can see the relief of the

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mountain side. One side[br]is scarred with evidence of bombing and

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devastation. The other appears unharmed[br]though it is surrounded by military

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infrastructure. Burdens installation was[br]on display several times since 1981 and

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changed kind of organically over time[br]until it took kind of a final shape in the

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new museum retrospective in 2013 and it[br]was replicated in the permanent collection

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of the Orange County Museum of Art which[br]I'd like to thank for the images. A Tale

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of Two Cities straddles the historical[br]timeframe of the so-called war on terror -

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2 decades before and one decade after 9/11[br]and one can help imagine that the two

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cities became a metaphor for North America[br]and the Middle East. Burdens work is both

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a premonition and a testament to the[br]nature of the current conflict. The

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juvenile nature of war from the aggressors[br]side no less shows how removed Western

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democratic societies are from the side of[br]conflict. It is a game going on over there

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far away. My question for today is how can[br]people in the West even make political art

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with so much historical baggage in the[br]contemporary moment? The following are

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collages by a Syrian artist his name is[br]Aeham Jaber who mixes scenes of the war in

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Syria and the refugee crisis with these[br]kind of kitschy surreal movie images from

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from Hollywood of the 1950s and 60s -[br]showing kind of the bombing of places like

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Damascus is being perpetuated by UFOs.[br]Instead of Russians Americans and

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Emiratis. Placing the surreal devastation[br]of Aleppo as an extraterrestrial

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experience as if Syria is not even on the[br]planet Earth. Jabbar's play on scale and

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perspective attempts to contextualize and[br]the historical heaviness of the current

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refugee crisis by showing these kind of[br]over sized children sleeping on the beach

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side or the overreaction to displays of[br]Western culture of Muslim culture in the

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West like the burkini incident in France.[br]The horror of surpassing the imagined

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futures of the past, where control centers[br]determine the fate of poor innocent

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people, seen through[br]the glassy gaze of technology, trying to

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ensure the security of faraway States that[br]are completely unaffected by the conflict.

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This next section I kind of put in jest[br]but I am also like partially serious and I

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want to kind of leave you with the idea[br]that for better or worse the two most

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important artists today working today are[br]probably Banksy and Anish Kapoor and still

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in a way that their work embodies the[br]issues of the art world with within the

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sent the idea of the current conflict.[br]From below and above the art world feels

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compelled to be political to the point[br]that if you make non-political art its

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some ways it's perceived as not only goosh[br]but devastating or shows the you are kind

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of so removed from reality that you occupy[br]and it's always interesting when we think

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about how art collectors seem to be[br]indifferent to the actual art itself and

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think of it only as market value. As[br]consumers and critics we need to voice our

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concern about the context and not just the[br]content of the art we are subjected to.

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From the artists point of view they feel[br]the compulsion to affect the world through

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their spray can or massives art[br]commissions. But those energies remain in

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their niches they become self-serving as[br]ways for careers to be made, they need to

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be translated into something far more[br]concrete, more sincere and more human than

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the absurd unending wars we're constantly[br]in and <i>Pause</i> yeah I guess we have plenty

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of time for questions as I said I found[br]out about this presentation 9 p.m.

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yesterday and was a little worried I was[br]going to take off way more time so thank

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you very much for listening. <i>Applause</i>[br]Herald: Thank you Saud. We have time for

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questions. If anyone wants to ask please[br]go to one of the microphones in the row.

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There is two on each area.[br]Saud: Don't all rush all at once. Yeah

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that's actually my second chaos in a row[br]speaking so <i>Laughs</i> this one is far more

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chaotic than the first I must say oh yeah.[br]But yeah thank you very much everyone.

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Herald: Thank you Saud. You said that you[br]had squezed in ten ...

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Saud: yeah. like[br]Herald: lectures into this talk, can you

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tell us about that?[br]Saud: Yeah I had more artists that I

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wanted to talk to but again the context of[br]how to fit in Harun Farocki or you know

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sort of bigger more intellectual projects[br]and the putting Burden

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versus Jaber for[br]me was in one hand using a very

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established conceptual artist who's known[br]to someone who is unknown who's just

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working actually entrapped in Syria and[br]can't leave and I went to show that there

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is a genuine difference even if the[br]intention of the artist is good that the

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the content and the context is an[br]in a sense devastating when you put it in

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the larger sphere of the war. And <i>Pause</i>[br]I to connect everything from television

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shows and video games to gallery art as[br]being part of the same ecosystem is not an

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easy thing you can do, yeah in 30 minutes[br]or in my case 10.

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Herald: And you have been working on this[br]for quite some years?

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Saud: This is like postdoctoral work so[br]this is the stuff I didn't in my PhD work

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I actually do the aesthetics of the[br]Islamic movement from themselves so it's

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actually kind of a more internal thing[br]than from the external parties, yeah. Now

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this is kind of a 1 circle removed from[br]what I was actually trained in but yeah.

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Herald: In this case we don't see any more[br]questions, unless there is anyone running

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to the microphones now - O someone is[br]running to microphone number 3. So

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microphone number 3 please, that is you[br]actually, please make sure to speak

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clearly into the microphone please.[br]Microphone 3: Yes, hello, yes I'm on maybe

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you can just tell us some more about the[br]pictures you've shown us?

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Saud: <i>mm-hmm</i> Oh the collages Jaber work?[br]He actually is a self trained well or

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Chris Burden?[br]Mic3: Maybe put the pictures on?

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Saud: Sure, sure, sure.[br]Mic3: Thanks

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Saud: So well I guess Burdens installation[br]is kind of famous. He himself am i on? I

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think I'm switched off. Hello? Okay, yeah[br]Burdens work his first work is that he got

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famous for was called shoot where he was[br]actually shot by a colleague of his in a

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gallery by a 22 rifle and it was recorded[br]on video and this was his kind of

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performance art that broke him into the[br]conceptual art world and his art works in

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the 70s got bigger and bigger and this is[br]one of the ones that culminated and kind

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of a very tongue-in-cheek anti-war - Is[br]the image? No it isn't. So he I was

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trying to put like the context of someone[br]who was kind of very very established to

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someone who's basically working on his[br]laptop using illustrator and Photoshop.

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And that at the end of the day I think[br]that <i>Pauses</i> the current conflict

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depicting itself in these images is in a[br]sense its own constant. Oh yeah.

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Herald: We are sorry we won't be able to[br]get the english sub right now. We are also

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still throwing all that technology in this[br]new location. Yes i think you have a

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question? Is there someone on microphone[br]number 4? Do you have a question? Please

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speak into the microphone.[br]Microphone 4: No

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Herald: Ok . So Thank you everyone.[br]Saud: Thank you everyone

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Herald: Thank you very much[br]<i>Applause</i>

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<i>34c3 outro</i>

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subtitles created by c3subtitles.de[br]in the year 2018. Join, and help us!