THE CHAMPIONS THROUGH THE EYES OF THE HAWAIIAN
On show 30 pieces, some of which created especially for this event
The Hawaiian artist Paul Pfeiffer (1966) presents at MOCA, on the occasion of his first retrospective exhibition ‘Prologue to the Story of the Birth of Freedom’, 30 works comprising those created so far plus others especially for this occasion.
Pfeiffer is a video artist and photographer. We could now call him a digital artist, since even in the most recent academic courses, this term has been cleared. He reprocesses archive material, mainly concerning sports reporting, and reduces the disturbing elements within the narrative, therefore simplifying the reported scenes. The artwork illustrates how certain scenic elements create in us the myth of the sportsman, or other beliefs such as religion, art, and nationalism.
HE FOCUSES ON REWORKING IMAGES FROM THE SPORTS NEWS
An emblematic example is to remove all side elements from a video of a basketball champion making a goal in the last second of the game during the championship final. Remove from view the scoreboard, the clock, the audience, and even the other players. What is left? A heroic champion in the act of making a decisive basket for his team? No. All that remains is a player practicing behind closed doors on any given day.
HE DEMONSTRATES HOW CERTAIN SCENIC ELEMENTS CONTRIBUTE TO CREATING THE MYTH OF THE CHAMPION
The reporting of a memorable sporting event experienced by a community of fans is transformed into an intimate dialogue made up of silences and gestures suspended in solitude. On the one hand, this allows the focus to be shifted to truly fundamental features such as technical gestures, physical fitness, and timing, but at the same time reveals that the creator of the storytelling is not the athlete, but the spectator.
It is the audience that through their own personal narrative creates the myths it needs to quench its hunger for idols. The exhibition can be viewed until 16 June 2024.
