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Artist Richard Jochum saws himself off the branch he sits on and falls. Sound: sawing noises, and branch cracking. New York 2007. Continuation of a performance series which started in Vienna 2001.
Thursday, July 5, 2007
Halt Video 2007
Watch video
Artist Richard Jochum saws himself off the branch he sits on and falls. Sound: sawing noises, and branch cracking. New York 2007. Continuation of a performance series which started in Vienna 2001.
Halt Video 2001
Watch video
Artist saws himself off the branch he sits on. He falls and lands on the same bough. Presented and cut as a loop. Sounds: birds twittering, sawing noises, and branch cracking. Vienna 2001
Artist Statement
"Halt" (2001-ongoing)
My performance series Halt (2001-ongoing) deals with our at times damaging ways of being in the world. Some of it we are aware of, some of it we are not. And even what is being done with the best intentions can end up in a disaster. On top of it, what’s good for an individual must not be beneficial for the society as a whole. So what is it that makes our doing valuable to the larger purpose of all or, as it has become prominent to ask, sustainable?
“Halt” is a performance project that comes with the wink of an eye. We all know the metaphor of cutting oneself off the branch one sits on, which we understand to be a popular expression for counterproductive behavior and doing against better knowledge. Seeing an artist performing the self-destructive behavior for real, induces humor in such a kind of action; and it is humor what makes the traumatizing way of being in the world bearable and affectionately absurd.
Richard Jochum
My performance series Halt (2001-ongoing) deals with our at times damaging ways of being in the world. Some of it we are aware of, some of it we are not. And even what is being done with the best intentions can end up in a disaster. On top of it, what’s good for an individual must not be beneficial for the society as a whole. So what is it that makes our doing valuable to the larger purpose of all or, as it has become prominent to ask, sustainable?
“Halt” is a performance project that comes with the wink of an eye. We all know the metaphor of cutting oneself off the branch one sits on, which we understand to be a popular expression for counterproductive behavior and doing against better knowledge. Seeing an artist performing the self-destructive behavior for real, induces humor in such a kind of action; and it is humor what makes the traumatizing way of being in the world bearable and affectionately absurd.
Richard Jochum
Biography
Richard Jochum is a Visiting Scholar and Artist at Columbia University. He works as a media artist since the late 1990s setting up exhibitions all over the world. Being an Austrian citizen Richard received his MA in philosophy from the University of Innsbruck, and his PhD from the University of Vienna dealing with strategies of coping with complexity in contemporary philosophy. He got his MFA in sculpture and media art from the University of Applied Arts in Vienna before he moved first to Berlin and later to New York. Richard’s art practice is accompanied by publications and lectures in the field of cultural theory and contemporary art. He has been awarded several grants and prizes. His most recent installation - an oversized prayer necklace as a communal sculpture – is exhibited on the roof top of the American University in Cairo, March – July 2007. More information can be found at http://richardjochum.net
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