Fiction is a Terrible Enemy is the solo exhibition by Californian artist Will Benedict, organized in Rome by Fondazione Giuliani. The common thread of the selected works, including videos, gouache, and posters, is an investigation into the relationship between reality and fiction, prompting reflection on the dangers of the stories we tell ourselves to live peacefully. The title, chosen by the artist, is inspired by a deep critique of Trump’s inauguration day speech. Indeed, “We have alternative facts,” a phrase used by his press office in response to a misleading note about the crowd size at the previous presidential inauguration, describes the modus operandi of the current U.S. administration: the alternative is fiction.
Will Benedict, “I AM A PROBLEM (T.O.D.D.)”, 2016. Video, 7 min. Courtesy Fondazione Giuliani per l’Arte Contemporanea
A year earlier, Trump had labeled himself a “Law and Order” candidate, referencing, for younger generations, a famous TV show, but in reality appropriating a phrase from Republican Nixon, during his late 1960s campaign. According to the artist, this seemingly innocuous expression could become a political shortcut to wield unchecked power and imprison millions. Will Benedict chose Fondazione Giuliani to premiere the new music video created for the band Wolf Eyes: Enemy Ladder (2017), for the album I AM A PROBLEM (2016), and it includes a selection of films made in previous years. His videos often mimic codified journalism formats, making them technically recognizable to all of us. However, the way these traditional forms hybridize with parodic aspects of a parallel reality or a sci-fi future creates an estranging effect, leading to an unexpected narcissistic gaze. With a hypnotic loop, the artist pushes us to look in the mirror and laugh at ourselves. He invites us to break down the reality we are immersed in and feel disgusted, as in The Bed That Eats (2015), where the pristine bed—backdrop to many elegant #sundaymorning posts from food and fashion bloggers—transforms into a monstrous creature. The luxury of the B&B, when overdone, turns into begging, decay, and filth. This message, combined with the giant golden “M” of a well-known fast-food chain, is a clear denunciation of the consumerist era and the unstoppable bulimia it has produced.
Will Benedict, “The Bed that Eats”, 2015. Video, 7 min. Courtesy Fondazione Giuliani per l’Arte Contemporanea
A brief interlude of gouache offers a more contemplative dimension: we can take a breath and regain distance between ourselves and the work, though the hybrid overlapping approach remains. Each two-dimensional work is actually a stratification of levels, and even in this case, it feels like we are watching multiple channels at once. Untitled (2014), for example, is an illustration where the artist seeks to capture the movement of the body. Seeing a man from behind, we might imagine we are on the street behind him, but the chosen perspective, combined with the glass and aluminum frame, inevitably recalls the spy-eye of Street View or a surveillance camera. The concept of “The Other,” however, is at the core of the videos produced for the album I AM A PROBLEM by the post-industrial/noise band Wolf Eyes. Two films are clearly tied to contemporary issues such as terrorism, immigration, protectionism, and the redefinition of geopolitical borders. In Enemy Ladder (2017)—the second work commissioned by the band and premiered at this exhibition—interior and exterior blend together: under incessant rain, a S.W.A.T. team is caught in an epic moment, geared up and ready to take down a dangerous gang, an invisible enemy to us. Inside the apartment, warm and safe, we see only a woman reading a book, indifferent, while children watch TV. And here, the reversal between reality and fiction occurs: Who is watching what? It’s as if we are watching a police drama intrude into our home to shield us from real life, while two poodles on TV vie for the presidential chair.
Will Benedict, “I AM A PROBLEM (Enemy Ladder)”, 2017. Video, 3.30 min. Courtesy Fondazione Giuliani per l’Arte Contemporanea
In T.O.D.D. (2016), the I/Other dichotomy is more explicit, thanks also to the form in which the encounter is presented. It’s a classic television situation, familiar to all: the talk show. Specifically, journalist Charlie Rose hosts his personal show, and across from him, the Other—his guest—is literally an alien, interviewed about the issue of immigration. What we see through the persistent close-up is just the gaze of a man and his firmness in responding to personal and painful questions, like any other guest. The video comes after the bloody events in Paris, and with the Eiffel Tower bent and nearly imploded in a spiral, the reference to terrorism is inevitable. Linking the two videos is Wolfgang Breuer’s work No title (2011): a siren equipped with a spray diffuser, as if the police were a portable device, a handbag accessory capable of spreading hygiene and security with a simple gesture. Toilets not Temples (2014) is the last video in the exhibition but actually the first work that initiated the collaboration between Will Benedict and Wolf Eyes. The band contacted the artist again after selecting the song Black Vomit for this film. Toilets not Temples takes viewers on a world tour through reports and interviews on food policies and the distribution of food among different countries, from Norwegian salmon to Indian onions, from Californian wine to genetically modified food that gives rise to monstrous half-mouse, half-human creatures that, like in The Walking Dead, multiply and annihilate humanity. The visual tension created in Will Benedict’s video collages serves as a barely concealed political and social critique on multiple fronts of Western life, which depletes Earth’s resources and spawns monsters under the flickering light of Law and Order.
Info:
Will Benedict. Fiction is a Terrible Enemy
11/02/2017 – 8/04/2017
Fondazione Giuliani per l’Arte Contemporanea
Via Gustavo Bianchi, 1 -00153 Rome
Tuesday to Saturday, 3:00 PM – 7:30 PM, and by appointment
fondazionegiuliani.org
Giulia Russo is an author and digital editorial assistant for Juliet, with whom she has collaborated since 2017. More recently she has been a contributing editor on cultural themes for various magazines, with critical insights, dedicated to emerging artists and the new frontiers of contemporaneity. Graduated in Art History at La Sapienza University of Rome, she specialized in Visual Cultures and curatorial practices at the Brera Academy of Fine Arts. Based in Milan, with some fleeting forays into Tiber, she loves listening to stories that she occasionally rewrites
NO COMMENT