press relaese House of Arts

May 16 - June 15, 2003

SASKIA JANSSEN /The Netherlands/

Video Installation (Jaroslav Král Gallery)

Smog, Smoke & Fortune

A project specially developed for the BRNO House of Arts.

A portrait of a group of 6 Ukranian construction workers who previously renovated the building and also help with technical matters in the House of Arts.

Ukranians are the largest group of foreign labourers in the Czech republic whose contribution to the Czech economy is of vital importance, but as a social group, they are a "hidden community".

The idea for the project was to involve the 6 construction workers in a more visible way by letting them become the actual subject of the artwork. The portrait has two sides to it, the first one was a more physical document of them as a group. In a park located at the back of the exhibition space, we set up 6 hammocks in between the trees along with a supply of food and drink. The men fell asleep in the hammocks for a whole afternoon while people walked their dogs and children played close by. The results were taped on video.

The second part or the work was more of a psychological profile of the various individuals in the group. This involved the hiring of a professional fortune teller who conducted one to one sessions with the men, the fortune teller was asked to make a point in his analysis highlighting each mans current situation as a foreigner in the Czech Republic. These sessions were recorded on video on top of the roof of the Raiffheisen Bank.

The presentation itself included the videos, props and leftovers from the whole project.