In Absentia
Deliberating various imposed standards, Vermibus has built a recognizable oeuvre, which culminates with his project entitled “In Absentia”. Works from the project unveil another introspective layer of Vermibus’ work, where macrocosms of consumerism intertwine with microcosms of the artist’s subjective journey into the depths of the self. The project began with the creation of 21 solvent-based posters, each of them bearing an individual inspiration and significance, hidden in the title. As a crown of the series, Vermibus produced an atmospheric video, an autonomous work of art, a clear step forward from the documentary short films he was creating to date. “In Absentia” video is a brooding visual tale about urban life, cleared of every and any distraction, including people, alluding to a plethora of issues the citizens face daily, from visual pollution to personal loneliness. Inspired by one of the biggest subway systems in Europe, the Parisian Metro, the artist installed all the posters on the scene, where the video was shot as well. Asking some of the crucial questions about present reality in the post-truth world, “In Absentia” opened a possibility to observe Vermibus’ work in broader context, surpassing the realm of public urban art.
“The Poster Remediated"
Muzeum Plakatu - WarsawAnniversary exhibition of the 25th International Poster Biennale.
11 June – 25 September 2016
Opening in Warsaw’s Poster Museum in June 2016, The Poster Remediated explores how the conventional poster is undergoing rapid transformation in an age of ubiquitous digital screens and social media.
‘I am a Man’ and ‘Je Suis Charlie’ shows how posters can promote justice and human rights. But posters are often accused of manipulating the viewer and of dominating our streets too. Activists like Vermibus, Jordan Seiler or Brandalism often remove commercial advertisements from their illuminated frames, replacing these posters with abstract art or anti-consumerist messages.
Professor David Crowley, Head of Critical Writing in Art & Design, has a long-term research interest in the poster as both a design object and a means of communication. OPEN WALLS Gallery’s Blog talked to David about his curation of the fiftieth Warsaw International Poster Biennale in June 2016, and the changing faces of poster design and dissemination in the digital twenty-first century. Read the interview [here]
As benchmark events in the fashion industry, Fashion Weeks produce and dictate specific standards of aesthetics and beauty, and market them via their advertising: one more strategy in the globalisation of Western consumer culture.
The beauty-cult is as firmly established on the catwalks of every Fashion Week as it is in the advertising they generate. The fashion industry uses bodies as tools in order to sell goods and encourage consumption.
The image of the body in advertising materials constrains and oppresses an individual’s true beauty, even as it conceals it behind the rhetoric of its own liberation.
In its new project, Unveiling Beauty, Vermibus re ected on this use of the body, and on standards of beauty imposed from above, within the framework of the Fashion Week circuit, via a series of public interventions.
Unveiling Beauty, as the name suggests, reveals the beauty that lies hidden behind the make-up and the photographic retouching that are used both within the fashion industry and in the way it publically stages itself via advertising.
In September 2015, Vermibus has followed the route of the most in uential Fashion Weeks, travelling to New York, London, Milan and Paris. And he analysed and revealed the true beauty that was hidden behind the various campaigns that are imposed on the public spaces of these cities.
Video by Xar Lee.
Directed and produced by Vermibus.
Image assistance by Peter
As points of reference in the fashion industry, Fashion Weeks form and lay down specific standards of aesthetics and beauty, and market them via their advertising: just one more strategy in the globalisation of Western consumer culture.
The beauty-cult is as firmly established on the catwalks of every Fashion Week as it is in the advertising they generate. The fashion industry uses the body as a tool in order to sell products, sell consumerism. The image of the body in advert- isements limits and oppresses an individual’s true beauty, concealing it behind the false rhetoric of its own liberation.
In a new project, Unveiling Beauty, Vermibus will reflect on this use of the body, and on standards of beauty imposed from above, within the framework of the Fashion Week circuit, via a new series of public interventions. Unveiling Beauty, as the name suggests, reveals the beauty that lies hidden behind the make-up and the retouching that are used within the fashion industry and also as it publicly stages itself through advertising.
Next September, Vermibus will follow the route of the most influential Fashion Weeks, travelling to New York, London, Milan and Paris. And he will analyse and reveal the true beauty that lies hidden behind the various campaigns that are forced upon the public spaces of these cities.
vermibus.com
#UnveilingBeauty
Vermibus - Las penas flotan en el vino - 2015
Over-consumption and the unchecked use of our natural resources to serve that consumption, is wreaking havoc on our environment and on our minds. Our unabated need for the latest products and ideas leaves us only wanting more, at the expense of the world around us. Fueling this unchecked desire is a commercial media whose goal is the promotion of more consumption through every outlet known. Newspapers, Magazines, Television, the Internet, and even the Public Space that we collectively share, all serve to promote our desire for more.
In an effort to examine the issue of over-consumption, “Buy Nothing Day” began in 1992 by artist Ted Dave, and participants were asked to refrain from purchasing goods for 24hrs. 22 years later this single act of defiance has grown into a worldwide movement that now takes place in 65 countries and includes thousands of participants. We have begun “NO AD Day” in solidarity with the “Buy Nothing Day” movement, and as an extension of our activist projects dealing with outdoor advertising in Public Space. Participants in “NO AD Day” are asked to remove as much outdoor advertising as they can the day before “Buy Nothing Day”, in an effort to eliminate the commercial media messages which dominate our public spaces.
We believe that curbing our over-consumption requires we take a hard look at the commercial messages which dominate all media outlets, and whose conceits we cannot escape. We also believe that extraditing ourselves from the commercial media system is the best way to gain control over our consumption behaviors. Our public spaces, dominated by commercial media, make gaining distance impossible. By eliminating the commercial media which dominate our public spaces we can begin to more fully gain control of our desire to consume, and address the issues surrounding “Buy Nothing Day”, and the rampant over consumption which threatens our civilization.
“NO AD Day” is about controlling the over saturation of our minds and environment by commercial media, so that we might address our consumptive needs in a more meaningful and productive way.
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All fotages were sent by the activists.
Video: Xar Lee
Producer: Vermibus
Voice: Desi Ivanova
Sound Engineer: Elliot German
Music: Chris Zabriskie - I am a man who will fight for your honor.