Nikolaj Recke

11.10.2008 - 08.11.2008
"4th of July"

Stalke Galleri


Inverted celebrations. A new series of works by Nikolaj Recke

By Jacob Lillemose

 

“The [fourth] day of July, 1776, will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more.

– John Adams, July 1776.

 

“Born of the age / Flagged hopes / Censored rage / The black clad box /Bombs bursting in air / Bleed white red and blue / Cried dawn's early light / For the hope / Oh where has it gone / Brothers sisters stand firmly and try / Reaching the spacious ski-ies / Fourth of July”

– “4th of July” by Beach Boys

 

Nikolaj Recke’s new series of works is entitled 4th of July referring to the date when the photos and the video were shot. The 4th of July is no ordinary day, at least not in the US, where Recke made this series in the summer of 2007. Known as Independence Day, it is the day when Congress ratified the official statement declaring that the thirteen American Colonies were no longer part of the British Empire but a nation of its own, the United States. A new empire was born and ever since the day has been celebrated all across the country, with pomp, parades and all the paraphernalia Adams mentioned.
 
One of the most spectacular and grandiose celebrations are the fireworks over New York City’s East River. It is a literal explosion of colours and patterns that testifies to the greatness of the nation. 4th of July is a documentation of the fireworks but with the colours inverted so that (night) sky is turned white and the patriotic reds, blues and whites are turned into nuances of purple, turquoise, brown and black.
 
Recke’s inversion of this celebration of the nation is a conceptual gesture manifested through visual effects. With simple, subtle means he distorts the familiar imagery of fireworks to make us reflect on what we see. Instead of icons of identification the imagery become figures of ambiguity that pose complex questions. What kind of nation do these images refer to? And, what’s more, what kind of celebration?
 
(…)
 
The inversion suggests an underlying irony in that the US is celebrating its independence at a time when it is at war in Iraq, a country that the US invaded and made dependent on the US. And that the celebration takes place in New York City that was itself “bombed” in 2001, an event that led to the decision to go to war in Iraq, only adds to the irony.

(…)
 
Although Recke makes a very conscious use of aesthetic effects, 4th of July is not a spectacular documentation, like the ones presented by most media, be the subject matter 4th of July celebrations or the war in Iraq. The effects are not about beauty in the popular sense but are connected with notions of distortion, alienation, and ambiguity and thus serve to encourage reflection on what is being celebrated and what we are going to war for. Instead of inducing in us emotional or political sentiment these effects serve to reorient our visual senses and to create new spaces for thinking that are beyond the reach of the ongoing bombing raids showering us with media imagery.
 
(…)
 

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 [Danish translation]


Inverted celebrations.

En ny serie værker af Nikolaj Recke

Af Jacob Lillemose



‘The [fourth] day of July, 1776, will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more.’

– John Adams, July 1776.

 

‘Born of the age / Flagged hopes / Censored rage / The black clad box /Bombs bursting in air / Bleed white red and blue / Cried dawn's early light / For the hope / Oh where has it gone / Brothers sisters stand firmly and try / Reaching the spacious ski-ies / Fourth of July’

– “4th of July” by Beach Boys

 

Nikolaj Reckes nye serie værker har titlen 4th of July som refererer til den dag, hvor fotografierne blev taget og videoen optaget. Den 4. juli er ikke nogen almindelig dag, i hvert fald ikke i USA, hvor Recke skabte serien i sommeren 2007. Kendt som Uafhængighedsdagen, er det dagen da Kongressen ratificerede den officielle uafhængighedserklæring i 1776, hvor 13 britiske kolonier i Nordamerika bekendtgjorde, at de ville frigøre sig fra det engelske kolonistyre og i stedet blive en selvstændig nation, De Forenede Stater. Et nyt imperium så dagens lys, og dagen er siden blevet fejret overalt i landet.
 
En af de mest spektakulære og grandiøse fejringer af Uafhængighedsdagen er fyrværkeriet ud over East River i New York City. Det er en eksplosion af farver og mønstre, der vidner om nationens storhed. 4th of July er en dokumentation af fyrværkeriet, men med farverne vendt om til negativer, således at nattehimlen bliver hvid, og de patriotiske røde, blå og hvide farver forandres til nuancer af lilla, turkis, brun og sort.
 
Reckes ‘omvendelse’ af fejringen er en konceptuel gestus manifesteret gennem visuelle effekter. Med enkle midler forvrænger han det velkendte billede af fyrværkeriet, for at få os til at tænke over det vi ser. I stedet for et ikon for national identifikation, bliver fyrværkeriet i stedet til tvetydige figurer, der giver anledning til komplekse spørgsmål. Hvilken slags nation refererer disse billeder til? Og ikke mindst hvilken form for fejring er der tale om?
(…)

Reckes ‘omvendelse’ indikerer en underliggende ironi i det faktum, at USA fejrer sin uafhængighed på et tidspunkt hvor nationen er i krig i Irak, et land som USA invaderede og gjorde afhængigt af sig. Og at festfyrværkeriet finder sted i New York, der selv blev ’bombet’ i 2001, en hændelse som ledte til Kongressens beslutning om at gå ind i Irak, gør kun ironien desto større.

(…)
Selvom Recke er meget bevidst om de æstetiske virkemidler er, 4th of July, ikke en spektakulær dokumentation, sådan som man kender det fra de fleste medier, hvad enten det omhandler selve fejringen af 4. juli eller krigen i Irak. Serien handler ikke om billedlig skønhed, men er i højere grad forbundet med begreber om det forvrængede  fremmedgjorte og tvetydige og er således en opfordring til beskueren om at reflektere over, hvad det er der bliver fejret, og hvad det er der kæmpes for. Frem for at forsøge at appellere til følelsesmæssig eller politisk affekt er serien i stedet et forsøg på at re-orientere beskuerens visuelle sensibilitet og derigennem muliggøre nye måder at tænke på, uafhængigt af mediernes billedbombardment.
(…)
 

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