Julieta Aranda «There is a heppy lend - fur, fur awa-a-ay»

Shedhalle / Exhibitions / Life Wire / Artists 

Julieta Aranda (MEX/US): There is a heppy land - fur, fur awa-a-ay, 2011 (photo. Chris Bierl)

There is a heppy lend – fur, fur awa-a-ay, 2011
Installation

The installation by the artist Julieta Aranda works with illuminating and darkening, with big dreams and vulnerable realities, with light and shadow. One single bulb, attached to a long wound cord lying on the floor, lightens the room installation. On the floor, there is also a group of miniature models made from cardboard. We recognise aerials and telegraph poles, the television tower Uetliberg, its observation tower. Here, constructions, usually of heavy steel and concrete, often approximately 200 meters high, are transformed into small, fragile objects. After a few minutes, the light fades. Darkness. On the opposite wall, large dark shadows of the antenna farm are silhouetted against the wall, gleaming weakly.
The simulated power failure is repeated every few minutes. Without electricity we can’t communicate the way we are used to, there’s no TV, no iPhone, no iPad, no e-mail. With the help of our modern high-tech devices we have become very flexible and very mobile, we can save a lot of time. But how often do we have to recharge our devices? How dependent are we, of this little power outlet? Dependent of our little devices, in order to be part of our society? Julieta Aranda’s staging of a blackout emphasises this covenant with technology. But there is one more aspect, this work wants to touch upon, i.e. the overall belief that we have lost, the belief that high-tech could solve all the problems we have. Aranda turns this manifest belief into a volatile shadow of certainty. “There is a heppy land – fur, fur awa-a-ay” – a flawed slogan of confidence, confidence that everything will get better, that progress and belief can save the world. The flaws have become visible and are demanding correctives.