FACELESS

26.01.2014 - 13.04.2014

Mediamatic, Amsterdam / Nederland

This exhibition shows the trend to hide, alter or mask the face. A trend visible in art, fashion and the media since the turn of the century. The works on show ranges from avant-garde masks to pieces that force open a dialogue with facial recognition software, surveillance cameras, and drones. Themes include seduction, surveillance and privacy. With 100+ artworks, there will be workshops on anonymity as a form of rebellion, lectures and more.

Since 9/11, fear for the obscured face has lead to more surveillance and the urgency to renegotiate the value of privacy.... The hidden face became increasingly prevalent in mainstream pop- and image culture. Artists, fashion designers, and photographers responded to these images and started investigating in their own way what it means to be without a face.

"Our unstable identity yearns for a return to the mask,” says curator Bogomir Doringer. “Like in times past, we are attracted to wearing masks as a form of protection or camouflage, as a prop, or just for entertainment."

In addition to 100+ works by internationally recognized young and renowned artists, the show features masks by designers like Maiko Takeda, Maison Martin Margiela, Jun Takahashi for Undercover, and Katsuya Kamo for Junya Watanabe’s Comme des Garçons.

[Quelle: https://web.archive.org/web/20230713104301/https://www.mediamatic.net/en/page/14429/faceless]