The Curve is Ruinous

30.06.2009 - 30.06.2009

Grazer Kunstverein, Graz / Österreich

The Curve is Ruinous:
‘Utopian society’ is a term used to describe a real or visionary political, social and economic community or social ideal. Utopia is, however a paradox, indicative of perfection yet also of a something not realistically possible. In each of these films, the meaning of the utopian society is on trial through these artists’ personal imagined utopian societies and also their interpretations of real social utopian constructs that still exist today. In both, a comment is made on the success of the traditional modern utopian society, most simply defined by the utopian structures of straight line modernist architecture, as championed by architects such as Le Corbusier, Niemeyer and van der Rohe, in which functional, balanced, clean and ordered living was the central focus.... In these designs, the curve was considered negative, the opposite of the positive modernist way of life, similar to the way that deviating from the systematic straight line of life progression is often considered to indicate failure for an individual. The irony of this statement is made clear through these films as these artists offer critical considerations of such utopian social constructs to consider the point when such utopian ideals fail and dystopia dominates. These films emphasise the need for us to reconsider what it means to desire such uniformed systems of societal control and encourage the exploration of new societal models of living. (Laura Barlow)

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