Impakt Works: Aleesa Cohene   During her residency, Cohene will produce her work 'Something Better'. This video installation consists of three monitors which all show different films. Psychology and emotions are the central elements in this work. The spectator is confronted with diverse emotions which, when put together, comprise a character. With offensive behaviour displayed on the one hand, and emotions such as fear confronting the spectator, on the other hand, each screen shows a different character. The interesting thing is that these characters cannot be defined as being individuals, but rather form a collection of auditive, visual and narrative elements. The distinct characters enter into a dialogue with each other: they argue and enter into discussions. Gradually, the views of the different characters come to the fore and it becomes clear how these views are at the root of situations of conflict. Against the background of these images, music is being played to illustrate the tensions between the characters and the narrative structure. At the end, the music no longer merely accompanies the images and discussions, but turns into something grand and symphonic in its own right. The work 'Something Better' – as well as all other works produced by this artist in the past six years – departs from a deeper meaning. Cohen takes particular interest in what she describes as the ‘emptiness of the current political discourse in Canada.’ In 'Something Better', Cohene attempts to lay bare the influence of the political discourse on individuals’ self-reflection by creating an intensive and personalised experience of dialogue, discussion and collectivity. According to Cohene, contemplating situations of conflict and views of other people gives us the possibility to increase our understanding of our own personal views. In other words, debate stimulates people to think about their own opinions. Characteristic of Cohene’s work is the recycling of images from documentaries and television films and putting these into a different context. She combines these images with voice-overs, music and sounds. An intriguing element in her work is the fact that she works with multi-channel video installations and in doing so, moves on the interface between film and visual arts. Cohene looks upon reality from a critical perspective and through her work, comments on politics and the visual culture which have a great impact on our lives. Aleesa Cohene was born in Vancouver in 1976 and currently lives and works in Toronto. Cohene exhibited her work in renowned international art galleries and at film festivals, such as the Toronto International Film Festival (Canada), the Rotterdam International Film Festival (Netherlands), the Oberhausen Short Film Festival (Germany), MIX Brasil and the Indonesian Independent Film and Video Festival. In 2003, her video work was awarded at the Impakt Festival and Images Festival (Canada). |
|
