TRANSFORMERS, 2004
Video projection, 4' 42", sound
“Who creates dreams and nightmares?” asks a raspy voice. Three people are seated at a kitchen table – red circular shapes cover their faces to ensure their anonymity. In computer-distorted voices, they talk about music – about songs they have written, about their hopes and dreams. They say they want to stay in this country. Listening to their conversation, one eventually learns they do not have residence permits, and that they have formed a pop music group named the Transformers. They give concerts.
Their public exposure, the fact that they are well-known, prevents them from being deported and repatriated. The band is fictitious. It was invented by Nedelkovic, who wrote and put together the statements that make up the interview. This work features actors who have assumed the roles of musicians. However, so-called “sans-papiers” (illegal immigrants) actually do exist. The artist cautiously calls attention to their fates, their self-assertiveness, and their creativity. In the film, the red circular shapes move around the kitchen as they constantly cover up the band members’ faces – like dancing lanterns, “so as not to meet the same fate.”
Transformers, text by Maryline Billod (in French),
published in Swiss Art Awards catalogue 2004
Credits
Thanks to: Chantal Bermond, Maryline Billod, Anita Holdener, Mizuki Imai, Paola Junqueira, Marie-Eve Knoerle & Espace Piano Nobile, Marc Liebeskind, Hartwig Meyer, David Monnet, Esteban Pages, Delphine Reist, Matthias Schmid, Catherine Tissot, Ingrid Wildi
Special thanks to: Jim Bahsin, Gaby Billing & Galerie Billing Bild, Jennifer Cassels-Scupham, Luise Hüsler, Erika Lynn Scheidegger, Christelle Mandallaz, Magnolia Papastratis, Fahid Taghavi