07 Nov 2018

Video Art Nights: Buffer Zones - I like it. I hope you like it too.

Buffer Zones
I like it. I hope you like it too.

Part One and Part Two
There is no difference between the two parts except the works shown.
Selected by Juliana Irene Smith
Platform Project Space

Thursday 1 November 2018 @ 7 – 9pm
Thursday 6 December 2018 @ 7 – 9pm

Bridget Baker, Basim Magdy, Dana Levy, Buhlebezwe Siwani, Ed Young,
Anetta Mona Chisa + Lucia Tkacova, Liza Grobler, Bashar Alhroub,
Nico Athene, Abri de Swardt, Nisrine Boukhari, Antonia Brown, Samah Hijawi,
Francois Knoetze, Daria Tchapanova, and Purity Zinhle Mkhize

'Buffer zones have various purposes, political or otherwise. They can be set up to prevent violence, protect the environment, protect residential and commercial zones from industrial accidents or natural disasters.' (Platform Statement.)

Buffer Zones is the theme for the 2018 – 2019 Platform residency and project space. In all honesty, I feel like I am constantly buffering my zones.

Where do you find your buffer? And what if it is gone, taken away? What is left?

The artists that were asked to participate, I have had the opportunity to meet in person or work with. I like them, I like their work, and I can tell you more about them, or where they live; a personal anecdote perhaps. The works are not curated in the sense of a perfect rhythmic or narrative flow from one to the other. Each work has an individual strength, power, yet the crash and clash of bodies, situations, animals, ritual, technology, environment and everything, it becomes quiet, disturbing and romantic all in one.

Perhaps the answer is in the space between us, or in the work and in how we utilize and negotiate our personal buffers, which leads us to the state we want to be (out of the buffer zone and safe)… just a thought.

The new space is supported by Svenska Kulturfonden, Svensk Österbottniska Samfundet, Kulturösterbotten and the Finnish Cultural Foundation.