David Dempewolf Work | Artist Statement & CV | Return to Artist List
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Artist Statement
In my video projects, history becomes unwound, exhumed, and at times re-written. I use a form of fictional role-playing where the protagonist (myself) moves through the time lines of recorded cultural history while conducting interactions with the events and people such as the film maker Pier Paolo Pasolini, or the IBM pavilion at the 1964-5 World’s Fair. These examples are instrumental in the staging of various ethical and historiographic scenarios.
One impetus for this project is the body of theoretical texts by authors who attempt to de-center the institutionally naturalized authority of written history. Over the past 40 years, the voices and stories of those who lack an adequate and/or accurate historical presence have through the use of critical discourse, generated counter narratives that effectively problematize the dominant drone of Euro-phallocentric history. For the moment, many textbooks have been modified to include these once sublimated narratives of the past. The weakness, and strength of historical revisionism is that it is a tool that's used to alter history to fit many different needs no matter what the speaker or writer’s intentions may be.
My video projects take place within Euro-American cultural history. In the arts, where a handful of artists are revisited and others are forgotten, history is in a constant state of flux. Each subsequent generation of the art world cobbles together its own genealogy. This constantly evolving canon reflects the temporally contextual permutations of criticism, politics and philosophy. I use narratives drawn from the arts as microcosmic examples of how global history can be tailored to fit the needs of whoever has the power and interest to do so.
Through the use of filmic and theatrical tropes of ‘making strange’, I hope to initiate a questioning of the project’s motives. It is at this juncture, that a space may be opened where one could adopt a critical stance initially towards the work, and then ideally to other dubious interpretations of documents from the past.
Revisionism is needed to counterbalance the monotony of exclusive histories, but it is also a potentially dangerous tool when used as a means for the construction or stabilization of normalizing hegemonic narratives. This project, through the use of propositions staged within the superstructure’s culture industry, means to (in a displaced manner) engender considerations of how the past is presently being narrativized and employed to justify the deliberate actions of those who wish to gain, retain and enforce governmental or institutional control.
In my video projects, history becomes unwound, exhumed, and at times re-written. I use a form of fictional role-playing where the protagonist (myself) moves through the time lines of recorded cultural history while conducting interactions with the events and people such as the film maker Pier Paolo Pasolini, or the IBM pavilion at the 1964-5 World’s Fair. These examples are instrumental in the staging of various ethical and historiographic scenarios.
One impetus for this project is the body of theoretical texts by authors who attempt to de-center the institutionally naturalized authority of written history. Over the past 40 years, the voices and stories of those who lack an adequate and/or accurate historical presence have through the use of critical discourse, generated counter narratives that effectively problematize the dominant drone of Euro-phallocentric history. For the moment, many textbooks have been modified to include these once sublimated narratives of the past. The weakness, and strength of historical revisionism is that it is a tool that's used to alter history to fit many different needs no matter what the speaker or writer’s intentions may be.
My video projects take place within Euro-American cultural history. In the arts, where a handful of artists are revisited and others are forgotten, history is in a constant state of flux. Each subsequent generation of the art world cobbles together its own genealogy. This constantly evolving canon reflects the temporally contextual permutations of criticism, politics and philosophy. I use narratives drawn from the arts as microcosmic examples of how global history can be tailored to fit the needs of whoever has the power and interest to do so.
Through the use of filmic and theatrical tropes of ‘making strange’, I hope to initiate a questioning of the project’s motives. It is at this juncture, that a space may be opened where one could adopt a critical stance initially towards the work, and then ideally to other dubious interpretations of documents from the past.
Revisionism is needed to counterbalance the monotony of exclusive histories, but it is also a potentially dangerous tool when used as a means for the construction or stabilization of normalizing hegemonic narratives. This project, through the use of propositions staged within the superstructure’s culture industry, means to (in a displaced manner) engender considerations of how the past is presently being narrativized and employed to justify the deliberate actions of those who wish to gain, retain and enforce governmental or institutional control.
CV
Exhibitions:
2010
-3 x 3 x 3: APT Project Rooms, Brooklyn, NY
-A FAILED ENTERTAINMENT, Selections from the filmography of James O. Incandenza, The Gallery at the LeRoy Neiman Center for Print Studies,
2009
-After Hiroshima Mon Amour, Whitechapel Gallery, London UK
-In My Mind (With Jason Moran), Walker Arts Center, Minneapolis, Festival of Arts and Ideas, New Haven CT, Town Hall NYC, Paris Jazz Festival France, Wroclaw Poland
2008
-Philadelphia Museum of Art, (commissioned video) Live: Time, Jason Moran, Bill Frisell, and the Badwagon,
- Centrum Sztuki Wspolczesnej Zamek Ujazdowski, Warsaw Poland (screening of A Thread to My/Your Stomach)
-Monkeytown,Zorn’s Lemma (with Howard Huang) Brooklyn NY
-Cut The Cord! From Up Here Everything Makes Sense!, Okay Mountain Gallery, Austin Texas
-HUM, Project Artaud Theater, San Francisco CA,
-Shift Electronic Arts Festival, Basel Switzerland,
-In My Mind (with Jason Moran), Moers Germany, Porto Portugal, UK, Cornell NY & Harlem NY
-Collecting and Collectivity, Conduit Gallery in Dallas, Texas (collaboration with Scott Rigby)
-David Dempewolf/ Micheal McFeat, Rosenwald Wolff Gallery, Philadelphia, PA - Decameron, CRG Gallery, New York
2007
-Passages/Passegen, Gandy Gallery, Bratislava Slovenia, Jeu de Paume in Paris, the Goethe Institute, New York and g-mk art center, Zagreb.
- London Film Festival, London, UK, invited by Mark Weber
-In My Mind (with Jason Moran), San Francisco, North Carolina, Washington DC, Chicago
-Summer School, PS 122, NY, NY, screening presented by Soyoung Yoon
- Whitney Independent Studio Exhibition, Artist Space NY, NY
-Oberhausen Film Festival, Oberhausen Germany, curated by Ian White
2006
-Flash on the Screen, Base Kamp, Philadelphia PA
-Bunch, Alliance and Dissolve, CAC, Cincinnati Ohio
-Queens International, Queens Museum, Queens, NY
-NDP: the movie, the Kitchen, New York, NY
2005
-etc., Andrew Kreps gallery, New York, NY, (screening of t.t.p. videos)
-Last Minute, Orchard, New York, NY,
-Jewelia Set, Greene Naftali, New York, NY
-e-flux video rental, Frankfurt, Berlin, Amsterdam, Miami, Korea… (Metrpolis video, made in collaboration with Trish Maud, and Sean Paul)
-MFA thesis show, Columbia University, New York NY
2004
-Connect the Dots (co-curated/organized with Scott Rigby)LeRoy Neiman Gallery, Columbia University, New York NY
-Hungry Eyes, Wallach Gallery, Columbia University, New York NY
2002
-dirty deeds (re)done dirt cheap (with Base Kamp)
Pennsylvania of the Fine Arts Museum,Philadelphia PA
-t.t. project Oldenburg intervention, University of the Arts gallery, Philadelphia PA
2001
-Building Paranoia (with Base Kamp), Project Room, Philadelphia, PA
-through the pedagogical looking glass (with Scott Rigby), ICA, Philadelphia, PA
- the telling of beautiful, untrue things or how I learned to stop worrying and love the role (with Base Kamp), Butcher Block, Chicago
2000
-the telling of beautiful, untrue things or how I learned to stop worrying and love the role (with Base Kamp),The galleries at Moore College of Art, Philadelphia, PA
-curated: deterritorializing the territorialized (with Base Kamp) BaseKamp gallery, Philadelphia, PA
1999
-portfolio day (with Base Kamp), University of the Arts, Philadelphia, PA
-stunt double (with Base Kamp), BaseKamp gallery Philadelphia, PA
-the hegemonic bar (with Base Kamp), BaseKamp gallery, Philadelphia, PA
-Sticker Shock, ICA, Philadelphia, PA
- heroes, villains and marginals, (with Base Kamp), BaseKamp gallery, Philadelphia PA
Bibliography:
-New York Times, In My Mind: Monk at Town Hall, 1959, Ben Ratcliff (March 1 2009)
-New York Magazine, The Jazz Standard, Martin Johnson (Feb.22 2009)
-Philadelphia Inquirer, Look Twice…, Edith Newhall (February 2008)
-Senses of Cinema, Adrift, Mark Harwood (November 2007)
-Art Journal, Who’s Afraid of Structural film? Jonathan T. D. Neil, (Feb. 2007)
-Modern Painters, The Jeweleigha Set, Jonathan T. D. Neil, (October 2005)
-New York Times, The Jeweleigha Set, Roberta Smith, (July 15, 2005)
Education:
2007 Whitney Independent Study Program
2005 Columbia University, MFA
2001 University of Pennsylvania, BFA
1998 Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
Residencies:
-A-I-R Residency, Warsaw Poland (2008)
-Skowhegan School of Art (2007)
Other:
-Maginal Utility Gallery, co-founder and co-director,Philadelphia PA (2009-present)
-Machete (art-zine), founder, editor, staff writer (2009-present)
Exhibitions:
2010
-3 x 3 x 3: APT Project Rooms, Brooklyn, NY
-A FAILED ENTERTAINMENT, Selections from the filmography of James O. Incandenza, The Gallery at the LeRoy Neiman Center for Print Studies,
2009
-After Hiroshima Mon Amour, Whitechapel Gallery, London UK
-In My Mind (With Jason Moran), Walker Arts Center, Minneapolis, Festival of Arts and Ideas, New Haven CT, Town Hall NYC, Paris Jazz Festival France, Wroclaw Poland
2008
-Philadelphia Museum of Art, (commissioned video) Live: Time, Jason Moran, Bill Frisell, and the Badwagon,
- Centrum Sztuki Wspolczesnej Zamek Ujazdowski, Warsaw Poland (screening of A Thread to My/Your Stomach)
-Monkeytown,Zorn’s Lemma (with Howard Huang) Brooklyn NY
-Cut The Cord! From Up Here Everything Makes Sense!, Okay Mountain Gallery, Austin Texas
-HUM, Project Artaud Theater, San Francisco CA,
-Shift Electronic Arts Festival, Basel Switzerland,
-In My Mind (with Jason Moran), Moers Germany, Porto Portugal, UK, Cornell NY & Harlem NY
-Collecting and Collectivity, Conduit Gallery in Dallas, Texas (collaboration with Scott Rigby)
-David Dempewolf/ Micheal McFeat, Rosenwald Wolff Gallery, Philadelphia, PA - Decameron, CRG Gallery, New York
2007
-Passages/Passegen, Gandy Gallery, Bratislava Slovenia, Jeu de Paume in Paris, the Goethe Institute, New York and g-mk art center, Zagreb.
- London Film Festival, London, UK, invited by Mark Weber
-In My Mind (with Jason Moran), San Francisco, North Carolina, Washington DC, Chicago
-Summer School, PS 122, NY, NY, screening presented by Soyoung Yoon
- Whitney Independent Studio Exhibition, Artist Space NY, NY
-Oberhausen Film Festival, Oberhausen Germany, curated by Ian White
2006
-Flash on the Screen, Base Kamp, Philadelphia PA
-Bunch, Alliance and Dissolve, CAC, Cincinnati Ohio
-Queens International, Queens Museum, Queens, NY
-NDP: the movie, the Kitchen, New York, NY
2005
-etc., Andrew Kreps gallery, New York, NY, (screening of t.t.p. videos)
-Last Minute, Orchard, New York, NY,
-Jewelia Set, Greene Naftali, New York, NY
-e-flux video rental, Frankfurt, Berlin, Amsterdam, Miami, Korea… (Metrpolis video, made in collaboration with Trish Maud, and Sean Paul)
-MFA thesis show, Columbia University, New York NY
2004
-Connect the Dots (co-curated/organized with Scott Rigby)LeRoy Neiman Gallery, Columbia University, New York NY
-Hungry Eyes, Wallach Gallery, Columbia University, New York NY
2002
-dirty deeds (re)done dirt cheap (with Base Kamp)
Pennsylvania of the Fine Arts Museum,Philadelphia PA
-t.t. project Oldenburg intervention, University of the Arts gallery, Philadelphia PA
2001
-Building Paranoia (with Base Kamp), Project Room, Philadelphia, PA
-through the pedagogical looking glass (with Scott Rigby), ICA, Philadelphia, PA
- the telling of beautiful, untrue things or how I learned to stop worrying and love the role (with Base Kamp), Butcher Block, Chicago
2000
-the telling of beautiful, untrue things or how I learned to stop worrying and love the role (with Base Kamp),The galleries at Moore College of Art, Philadelphia, PA
-curated: deterritorializing the territorialized (with Base Kamp) BaseKamp gallery, Philadelphia, PA
1999
-portfolio day (with Base Kamp), University of the Arts, Philadelphia, PA
-stunt double (with Base Kamp), BaseKamp gallery Philadelphia, PA
-the hegemonic bar (with Base Kamp), BaseKamp gallery, Philadelphia, PA
-Sticker Shock, ICA, Philadelphia, PA
- heroes, villains and marginals, (with Base Kamp), BaseKamp gallery, Philadelphia PA
Bibliography:
-New York Times, In My Mind: Monk at Town Hall, 1959, Ben Ratcliff (March 1 2009)
-New York Magazine, The Jazz Standard, Martin Johnson (Feb.22 2009)
-Philadelphia Inquirer, Look Twice…, Edith Newhall (February 2008)
-Senses of Cinema, Adrift, Mark Harwood (November 2007)
-Art Journal, Who’s Afraid of Structural film? Jonathan T. D. Neil, (Feb. 2007)
-Modern Painters, The Jeweleigha Set, Jonathan T. D. Neil, (October 2005)
-New York Times, The Jeweleigha Set, Roberta Smith, (July 15, 2005)
Education:
2007 Whitney Independent Study Program
2005 Columbia University, MFA
2001 University of Pennsylvania, BFA
1998 Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
Residencies:
-A-I-R Residency, Warsaw Poland (2008)
-Skowhegan School of Art (2007)
Other:
-Maginal Utility Gallery, co-founder and co-director,Philadelphia PA (2009-present)
-Machete (art-zine), founder, editor, staff writer (2009-present)
still from, A Thread To Your/My Stomach, 54mins, 2008
still from, A Thread To Your/My Stomach, 54mins, 2008
still from, A Thread To Your/My Stomach, 54mins, 2008
Zorns Lemma, 12 min. 4 X channel video, 2008
An Operatic Exchange, installation with 5X videos on monitors, 2008
An Operatic Exchange, installation with 5X videos on monitors, 2007
An Operatic Exchange, (detail) installation with 5X videos on monitors, 2007