EXHIBITION
THOMAS KVAM

Thomas Kvam’s first solo exhibition in Norway, Eurobeing, moves in a dystopic landscape between politics, film and media critique, unfolded in a stylized animation universe. In the 20 minutes long film, the news coverage’s sensationalism and our own prejudices are being parodied, either as pointed towards the American, Arabic to the European. The film presents a collage of chaotic news reportages, which fight for the spectator’s attention, which plays the role as “Eurobeing” or the cynical audience. Here, black humor and critique of society are entwined, and where the media’s simplification of a complex world is the real “bad guy”.

The film landscape is a visually consistent and dense room, which balances between post-apocalyptic tableaus, political satire, and media clichés and myths. The film problematizes cultural taboos and shows a will to play in a politically unredeemed space. However, the political foundation in the fiction never disappears: the film’s use of the term “Eurabia” points to a long European utopian tradition, where Thomas Moore and Jonathan Swift are natural references. With the extension of the word to “the desecularized zone of the U.S. of Eurabia” a future, where so-called “Western” values and political Islam, religious believes and neo-liberalism converge, is implied, and where the real conflict takes place between a secular and religious perception of the world.

Downloads:
Thomas_Kvam_2006_Production.zip (1.7mb)