| Re/Production Poster series that deals with the challenge of how two, at the same time opposing and cyclically reacting perspectives, can be hosted within the same words and physical space of a single poster. Both perspectives receive the same space and attention, and only the active word on the poster remains visible at all times, emphasizing the reproductive nature of the two statements. By viewing the poster from the right, and then from the left, the two different perspectives appear. The content of the claims is inspired by some of the universal conflicts that seem to be produced and reproduced through their action-reactionary nature.     Discourse Monument Design action that seeks to instigate an alternative discourse within the integration debate in Western Europe. The social intervention ‘Monumentalizing Monumentalism’ gathered six people living in The Netherlands, originally from Denmark, Germany, France, Columbia, Turkey and Holland on a bus ride, during which they were confronted with their individual nationalist sentiments, or lack there of. The participants were brought to a dissident meeting room, which resembled an image of a meeting point for a resistance group. Here, questions were raised concerning how to define and monumentalize an alternative discursive approach to the discussion of immigration and national belonging, a discussion that has currently become cyclical by its own polarizing nature. Following the performance, a text was formed based on the alternative discourse negotiated and defined, and this text was printed incessantly in a book, once on each page, almost as a book filled with flyers. The book was distributed to individuals with the command to rip out a page and distribute them. In this way, the pages are ripped out one by one, distributing the knowledge, and diminishing the book as an object. The intention with the performance, the book, and the deconstruction of the book itself, was to create a discourse monument. The act of constructing an alternative discourse through interaction and dialogue, followed by the deed of embodying this discourse in written word, and then finally bringing back individual action of and dialogue, symbolically represents the process of an alternative discourse being monumentalized. The monument therefore, lies not in the book itself, but in the production and reproduction of discourse surrounding it.    Prior to a Post-Structuralist Designers Manifesto ‘Prior to a Post-Structuralist Designers Manifesto’ is a ‘Pre-Manifesto’ which questions the power and potential of the designer as an actor. Inspired by Marx’s thoughts on ‘Commodity Fetishism’, as well as Post-Structuralist thinking, the pre-manifesto encourages the re-negotiation of the role of the designer, and proposes that the designer not just produce objects, but also produce knowledge. The manifesto is written in barcode as a comment towards the reduction of design and designers to merely being products, and is scanable in Code 128.   Negotiating National Belonging Book that dissect the story of a young Israeli man who fled his country in order to avoid his draft as a combat soldier in Palestine, returning to imprisonment by the Israeli army four years later. The book is based on a four-hour interview, and illustrates the personal conflict of feeling proud of a pacifist choice, but equally guilty for not fulfilling the requirements of a ‘good Israeli citizen’. The form of the book emphasizes the individual negotiation process of positioning ones sense of national belonging to Israeli society, as he shifts back and forth between feeling proud and guilty, within the interview.     Charter of Hybrid Cultural Identity ‘Charter that defines and claims the legitimacy of a Hybrid Cultural Identity. In November 2009, a Temporary Embassy of Hybrid Cultural Identity was established for the first time in the Netherlands. The Embassy investigated hybridity as a starting point for cultural identity, and invited individuals to participate in the process of negotiating and defining the boundaries of a new identity category, and claiming its legitimacy. This performance was the base for the writing of a charter that argues the perspective that cultural identities should not be based on static, predefined categories like nationality or religion, but rather on the concept that every individual has a momentarily shifting sense of cultural belonging. This shifting between different, and perhaps seemingly opposing categories, should therefore be acknowledged as legitimate, and even constructive. The charter is perforated, and can be split in pieces of different sizes, expressing both the numerous fragments of identity that every individual possesses and the unfeasibility of attempting to define these in equal pieces.   Iraq News Re-Read ‘33 Grad Nord 44 Grad Ost' is a newspaper based on articles about the conflict in Iraq from a German Newspaper. It developed out of a critical discussion about the forming of isolated realities and 'truths' through the use of text, photography and illustration in newspapers. The content is related to the portrayal of the war in Iraq, and the title '33 Grad Nord 44 Grad Ost' describes the coordinates of Iraq on the world map. The work functions as both a newspaper and as a series of posters, which in sets of two posters question elements such as the relevance of the individual in war, the lack of importance that numbers of casualties come to have, and how conflicts easily become converted into technical aspects of military tactic and strategy. With participation/contribution from Andrea Bayer, Mark Brehm and Sun Mee Martin.     Cross Camouflage Poster that reflects the role of fatality in war. The camouflage poster, which is in fact formed out of a pixel grid of small crosses, is visually inspired by the image of Military Graveyards. The work questions the role of the military, in relation to giving the lives of their own soldiers, and systematically taking the lives of ‘enemy’ soldiers. The poster is constructed in a sense that it can always be extended, consequently leading the camouflage to grow, thereby symbolizing the growing of war and the military, and thus the countless losing of lives.   Lack of Careful Attention / Afghanistan This poster and book installation offers a critical comment towards the American army’s use of strikingly similar looking cluster bombs and aid packages in Afghanistan. As shown one-to-one on the poster, the bomb and the aid package have a similar colour and size. Both elements were dropped from air-planes. In average, ten percent of cluster bombs did not explode right away when hitting the ground. Consequently, civilians in Afghanistan were confusing the explosive devices for aid packages, leading to an un-documented amount of injuries and casualties. In order to receive the message of the poster by reading the small text, or the content of the books thrown on the ground in public space, the audience must go close to the poster or pick up and rip open the object, thereby being confronted with the potential of the fatal mistake.      Deconstructing the UN-Blue The blue colour of the United Nations flag expresses at once unity and equality amongst and between all nations. However, when looking deeper into the underlying structures of the organization, different colours might appear. In this research project, three factors were statistically analyzed, mapped out, and visualized: When looking at the United Nations Peacekeeping Missions - Who makes the decision to send troops to war? Who pays for it? And who actually fights as a soldier on the ground? Three flags were made, each one visualising one of these questions. The flags of each nation were overlaid according to their percentage of participation in terms of decision power (political flag), financial contribution (financial flag), and soldiers on the ground (man power flag). In this way, the colours and symbols in the flag are formed out of this system of up to 192 layers/national flags. The flags visually express a lack of unity and equality, thereby deconstructing the blue. A research book accompanies the flags, explaining the statistical systems of visualizations, and making transperant the sources that the systems are based on.. This is not the Problem of the Audience / Northern Uganda IExperimental documentary film that questions the role of Western film makers in the third world, and how we come to understand conflicts in the world through structures of neo-colonialist empathy. In 2007, Michelle Christensen and Florian Conradi went to Northern Uganda with the perspective of making a documentary film portraying the consequences of the twenty-one year long war, and the faith of the female child soldiers who had returned from it. However, finding both elements of victimization, empowerment, strength and suffering, they struggled to portray the complexity of the situation and the people that they encountered. When returning to Europe with a great deal of footage, they felt that they could hardly portray the reality that they had encountered, solely through the lens of a camera, leaving them with a strong sense of dissatisfaction. Through their own frustrations and discussions about how to make the film, their struggle became the subject of this documentary film itself, in which the filmmakers share their heated debate about how to make the film, with the audience. This is a documentary film, which seeks to challenge both the existing victimizing views and blind empowerment stories, as well as the role of a filmmaker, by adopting an uncensored and emotional take on the film makers’ own perspective and experiences. See extracts of film here!   54.780 Words In 2007, The Institute for Network Cultures in Amsterdam initiated a publication introducing theoretical discussions about and within new media culture. Within the design of this newspaper, pages were created which questioned the perceptions of, definitions of, and developments within new media culture. In this way, the newspaper not only hosts the theoretical debates, but also frames these within a larger critical framework. The framework itself was created in order to assume a comprehensive layer of authorship within the role of 'designer'. The choice of the media of a newspaper in itself reflects a query from the perspective of the designers, as well as the fact that the entire work is based only on the function of in-depth reading, and therefore only on the use words - 54.780 to be exact. The newspaper was published by the Institute for Network Cultures, printed in an edition of 5000 copies.     Temporary Contemporary Art Gallery / Tel Aviv As a social experiment, a temporary contemporary Art Gallery was established in Tel Aviv, Israel. The undertaking was an investigation into the experience and perception of art, and aspired to challenge both artist, audience and curator to deal with the social relations between artist, audience, artwork, space, time, and context of presentation. Firm regulations were established in order to provide a framework in which social interfaces and individual confrontations could be encountered. The gallery strived to spark discussions, open perspectives, to bring certain subjects into consciousness, to keep an intimate level in order to create an intense situation, and to raise personal questions for anybody who was involved. The results were documented in statistical overviews of visitors, artists and personal individual experiences, as well as in a catalogue. The catalogue is an emotional compilation of the decisions, dialogues, incidents and encounters that occurred within the project. The gallery, which was named 'Simta Plonit 7", was founded in Tel Aviv in 2004 (in collaboration with Georg Molterer).     The Relation between a Person and a Weapon in Public Space What is the relation between a person and a gun? And does the person disappear in relation to the power of the weapon? What happens if you separate the person from the gun? As a performance, people carrying guns on Ben Yehuda walking street in Jerusalem were asked to lay down their guns in order for the gun to be photographed, and the person interviewed about themselves. It is illegal for an Israeli soldier to lay down his gun, and most people in this tense environment lack the trust to do this in general. In one whole day, three people agreed. In the book, one page displays the weapon, and the opposite page displays a personal detail about the person. This was done in order to question the incommensurability of the perception of the person with the weapon, and the perception of the person without. The book is handmade. The guns on the pages are plotted 1:1 size on matte-heavy paper and the same paper is used for the cover. It is plain white with an embossment of location and date, but weighs 4 kg (approximately the weight of an M16). The weight is reached by hiding two big metal plates inside each cover sheet. It is optically neutral but gives a haptic introduction to the topic in size and weight, bringing the reader closer to the experience of carrying a weapon. The layout and embossment on both sides of the cover make it also possible to read the book from right to left as a reference to Hebrew and Arabic script (in collaboration with Georg Molterer).   ::: ::: Michelle Christensen 2007/2008 MSc in Gender and Sexuality, Amsterdam University, The Netherlands 2006/2007 MA in Conflict Studies and Human Rights, Utrecht University, The Netherlands 2001/2006 BA in International Development Studies, Roskilde University, Denmark 2005/2006 Conflict Studies, Centre for African Studies, Copenhagen University, Denmark contact@michellechristensen.dk Florian Conradi 2006/2008 MFA. in Design, Sandberg Institute, Rietveld Academy, Amsterdam, The Netherlands 2003/2004 Bezalel Academy of Art and Design, Department Fine Art, Jerusalem, Israel 2000/2005 Diplom Designer (FH), University of Applied Sciences Mainz, Germany contact@florianconradi.de *Inspired by Galtung`s conflict triangle (Attitude, Behaviour, Contradiction)  |