Night Vision
American Night
Seeing modern America through the Old West
According to artist Julian Rosefeldt, American Night is about "the approaching end of the American empire". The five-channel film installation uses devices from the classic Western to deconstruct American foreign policy.
In reflecting on the ongoing conflict in Iraq, the German artist saw a direct connection between the founding myth of the Wild West - of the lawless frontier and the triumph of the righteous gunslinger - and America's presence in the Middle East. There are cowboys still, struggling to survive in an arid and unforgiving landscape. There are toughened, lonely heroes forced to make hard decisions. There are women at home, waiting.
In Rosefeldt's work, iconic Western images are meticulously constructed then gradually exposed as satirical artifice. In one scene, a group of cowboys sits around a campfire debating guns, power and freedom, their conversation wholly constructed from political speeches, films and rap songs. In another, a crowded saloon watches a vaudevillian puppet show, featuring Barack Obama and George W. Bush as the puppets.
It is one of Rosefeldt's most complex works to date, lavishly produced and beautifully photographed, building a complex web of meaning between the five interrelating screens. While it is implicitly critical of the War in Iraq, American Night is also a loving homage to the Western and a fascinating exploration of the hidden mechanisms of cinema. It is an immersive and expansive work, giving us multiple ways to read and understand the strange beast that is American popular culture.
American Night is open daily in Gallery 2 until Sunday 31 July. Admission is free.
http://www.acmi.net.au/american-night.aspx
Published Friday, 24 June 2011
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