violence Archives

Nick Cave
Feat.
Frist Art Museum, Nashville, Tennessee [link]
November 10, 2017-June 24, 2018

Cave’s soundsuits are optical feats of wonder —ornately Dadaesque creations advantageous to obscure identity, yet inept for practical use- a sharp contrast to the drab, functional SWAT suits used for law enforcement. The sculptures are also feats of labor: intricate handwork of woven, knitted, sequined and sewn patterns and cultural objects. Most remarkable are the conceptual feats interwoven between each bead and thread, representing racial and gun violence, specifically the targeting of young black men in the U.S. Rather than polemics, Cave adopts the strategical tactics of beauty, absurdity and spectacle, as a conduit for contemplation and dialogue.

~ Colette Copeland
all images courtesy of the author

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Teresa Serrano, La piñata, 2003, video projection, Dimensions variable, running time: 5 minutes 45 seconds, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, gift of Elizabeth Díaz-Soto in honor of Gilbert Vicario. © The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

Teresa Serrano
La Piñata, 2003
Video, duration 5:45
Contingent Beauty, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston [link]

Using a common childhood game as a metaphor for the murders of young women in Juarez, Mexico, Serrano’s graphic, polemic video depicts a man brutally bashing a piñata shaped like a young woman. The male protagonist takes perverse pleasure as he calculatingly taunts his paper mâché prey. With only her head remaining, he plants a tender kiss on her face, before striking the final blows. However, it was the sound that haunted me for weeks—five long minutes of escalating grunts of exertion and heavy breathing mingled with the sound of the bat making contact, followed by silence.

~ Colette Copeland
images courtesy of the Museum of Fine Arts Houston

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