Social Video Art
This program brings together works by Pedro Lasch that are as varied as their settings. Projected in large scale at museums and galleries, all works have been meticulously co-edited with Michael Blair to become video art in its own terms—as opposed to simply documenting Lasch’s social and site-specific art.
- Collaborators
- Social Practice Lab(external link)
About the Project
Gallery Hours
With Duke ID: 10am–8pm Mon–Fri
General Public: 5–8pm January 20 & 21
Public Reception: Thursday, January 20, 5–8pm
This program brings together works by Pedro Lasch that are as varied as their settings. A pandemic dance party in Bogotá’s baroque Santa Clara convent gives way to an irreverent choreography in Bologna’s Anatomical Theater. Movements of abstract color merge with views of Venice and textual patterns with Embassy Row in the US Capital, both capturing voice recitals once presented there, four national anthems at once, all in the wrong language. A soon-to-be demolished ice rink in Charlottesville becomes the stage for fire sculptures and performances, leading to a participatory candle vigil on ice to honor the life of Heather Heyer.
Projected in large scale at museums and galleries, all works have been meticulously co-edited with Michael Blair to become video art in its own terms—as opposed to simply documenting Lasch’s social and site-specific art. The exhibition also celebrates the fruitful collaborative process that started in 2015, when Blair began working on dozens of instructional videos for Lasch’s ART of the MOOC series, offered on Coursera and co-produced by Creative Time in New York and Duke University in Durham. Little did they know that over 60,000 people from 134 countries would enroll and view these videos, or that this process would lead to so many additional hours of working together on much more obscure video works never meant to be viewed on a computer or mobile device.
Projection Program (40-minute loop)
La Plaga, Santa Clara Convent, Bogotá. Director’s Cut (2021). Video (color, sound) 6:27 minutes.
Venice Biennale Sing Along or Karaoke Anthem (2015). Selections: Mexican Anthem in Hebrew, Israeli Anthem in Arabic. Video (color, sound) 2:44 minutes.
Composition No.20, Anthems for Four Voices, Abstract Nationalism Series, 56th Venice Biennale and Creative Time Summit (2001/2015), Director’s Cut (2021). Video (color, sound) 12:39 minutes.
Anatomy of the Nation, Anatomical Theater, Bologna. Director’s Cut (2017-2018). Video (color/sound). 6:39 minutes.
Fire & Ice (In Memory of Heather Heyer), Main Street Arena, Charlottesville. Director’s Cut (2018). Video (color, sound) 3:08 minutes.
Singing Processions, The Phillips Collection and Embassy Row, Washington DC (2001/2014) Director’s Cut (2021). Video (color, sound) 3:58 minutes.
Composition No.46, The Phillips Collection, Washington DC (2001/2014), Director’s Cut (2021). Video (color, sound) 13:21 minutes.
Note: ART of the MOOC instructional video selections presented on entrance monitor for context only. You may view all materials if interested using QR-code.
About the Works
La Plaga: Un baile público con protocolo de pandemia (La Plaga: A Public Dance Party with Pandemic Protocols)
Santa Clara Convent, Bogotá. Director’s Cut (2021). Video (color, sound) 6:27 minutes.
Staged in the spectacular baroque convent of Santa Clara during the gradual recovery from the global covid-19 pandemic, this work brings together tragedy and joy, faith and iconoclasm, colonialism and genocide. On November 12th, 2021 hundreds of people came to dance repeating iterations of the 1950s rock&roll hit La Plaga, recognized across Spanish-speaking countries world-wide, as well as English-speaking ones through its original, “Good Golly Miss Molly” by Little Richard.
Credits
Author & Artistic Director: Pedro Lasch / Co-Producers: Animal Simbólico & Bienal Reexistencias – Bienal de Arte y Descolonialidad / Curators: Adolfo Albán Achinte and David Arteaga / DJ Loa Malbec – Paola Valdivieso Ruiz / Dancers: Natalia Andrea Parada Casas, Alvaro Esteban Medina Ramírez, Angie Lorena Cuesta Bautista, David Esteban Ruiz Hernández, Mateo Popayán Cortés, Paula Popayán Cortés, Liza Bello, Esther Asprilla, Alejandra Vargas, Laura Melo / Video and Editing: Michael Blair / Videography: Michael Blair and Pedro Lasch / Photography: Michael Blair and Pedro Lasch. The event was presented by: Reexistencias, Animal Simbólico and Museo Santa Clara, with additional support from the Colombian Culture Ministry, and FHI Social Practice Lab / Special thanks to: María Constanza Toquica Clavijo, Manuel Amaya Quintero, and the staff of Museo Santa Clara and Museo Colonial in Bogotá. Music: La Plaga by Teen Pops (Permission via Duke University BMI License).
Fire & Ice (In Memory of Heather Heyer)
Main Street Arena, Charlottesville. Director’s Cut (2018). Video (color, sound) 3:08 minutes.
Fire & Ice (In Memory of Heather Heyer) collectively reimagines fire as a positive force, presented on the ice rink of Charlottesville’s Main Street Arena, opposed to the hatred that led to Heather Heyer’s tragic death. On April 1, 2018, viewers joined the piece by skating, observed it from the ice rink wall, or were surprised by it from the street, seen through the arena’s beautiful arched windows on their walk upon the mall. Playful and solemn at the same time, the work is a celebration of Heather Heyer’s life, as well as the building that brought joy to so many people. Fire & Ice was the last public event at the arena, before it was demolished to be relocated from its historic site. As an ephemeral sculpture, the work is centered in the title’s core materials. Fire and ice have been revered in many cultures as basic methods of subsistence and key elements of matter. The work included three key elements: fire directly on the ice and a sculptural intervention, fire performances, and a final participatory candle vigil on skates.
Credits
Author & Artistic Director: Pedro Lasch / Co-Producers: Ed Woodham and Bill Bennett / Curator: Yuchen Xie / Fire Performers: Erin Riley and Joe Schepps / Video and Editing: Michael Blair / Videography: Charles Lambert & Kia Wassenaar / Photography: Amanda Christensen, Gabby Fuller, Gillian Liedke, Lucy Wu. Presented by: UVA Arts Board, FHI Social Practice Lab, AiOP 2018: Matter, with additional support from Fire Marshal & Battalion Chief Joshua J. Davis; Brian Adams, Gary Jones, Will Bryant, Main Street Arena staff; James Silay, Madeline Smith, Sarah Walshak, Women’s Ice Hockey Club at UVA; Susan Bro & The Heather Heyer Foundation. Music: Richard Strauss ‘Morgen’ Op.27, TrV 170, No.4 (Version for voice and orchestra), Neeme Järvi, Felicity Lott, and Scottish National Orchestra (Permission via Duke University ASCAP License).
Selections from the Abstract Nationalism Series (2001–present)
Abstract Nationalism includes video works, visual scores, paintings, musical performances, and various media associated with socially engaged art. Channeling the intense emotional and cultural associations we have towards anthems and flags, the series addresses notions of independence, colonialism, (multi)nationalism, migrations, and mapping, all so deeply related to the history of nations and cultures. Conceived in 2001, but first presented at the The Phillips Collection in Washington, DC (2014) and its immediate Embassy Row neighborhood, the series has also been presented at the 56th Venice Biennale and Creative Time Summit, Seattle’s historic King Street Station, UNESCO’s InTransit, Laboratoires d’Aubervilliers in Paris, Bologna’s Anatomical Theater, and many other sites around the world. The following works from the series are included in this program.
Venice Biennale Sing Along or Karaoke Anthem (2015)
Selections: Mexican Anthem in Hebrew, Israeli Anthem in Arabic. Video (color, sound) 2:44 minutes.
Created for the 56th Venice Biennale & Creative Time Summit (2015), this video presents five national flags slowly transforming into each other —the United States of America, Mexico, Israel, Palestine, Italy, and China—in succession. For example, the stars and stripes of the American flag transform piece by piece into the vertical green, white, and red of the Mexican flag, and so on. Beneath each flag, the lyrics of that country’s national anthem appear, unexpectedly, in the language of the country that follows—”The Star-Spangled Banner” is sung in Spanish, the Mexican anthem in Hebrew, the Israeli in Arabic, the Palestinian in Italian, and the Italian in Chinese. When first exhibited in Italy, audiences sang along to the work’s musical track. You are invited to do the same during this projection.
Credits
Voice: Fran Newark, Instrumental recording: US Navy Band.
Composition No.20
Anthems for Four Voices Suite, Abstract Nationalism Series, 56th Venice Biennale and Creative Time Summit (2001/2015), Director’s Cut (2021). Video (color, sound) 12:39 minutes.
Commissioned for the Venice Biennale by Creative Time and staged in the Teatro alle Tese at the Arsenale, this work includes the anthems of Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Ireland, each sung in the language of the country that follows it.
Credits
Author & Artistic Director: Pedro Lasch / Co-Producers: Nato Thompson and Sally Szwed / Curator: Okwui Enwezor / Musical Composition: Craig DeAlmeida / Conductor: Rodney Wynkoop / Vocal performers: Kristen Blackman, Fran Newark, Erica Dunkle, Cameron Aiken, Larry Speakman, and Nathan Jones / Instrumentalists: Hsiao-Mei Ku, Leonid Zilper, Donald L. Oehler, John B. N. Hanks / Curricular guard performers: Francesco Berton, Elisa Carmen Bruman, Doris Cavar, Alessandro Conte, Giulia Mazzorin, Elena Pellizzon, Marco Rizzardi, Matilde Sambo, Massimo Simonetto, G. Olmo Stuppia, Linda Vigiani / Video Editing: Michael Blair / Videography and Photography: Pedro Lasch, Andrea Cavar, Andrea Curtoni, and Dan Smith. Audio: Aaron Kutnick. Research: Kirsten Rutschman and Imani Mosley. Curricular guard terms: Pedro Lasch, Azeddine Chergui, Luciana Fellin, Esther Gabara, Emanuel Fiano, Tamika Galanis, Sinan Goknar, Alex Gordon, Brittain Hughes, Kelly Kosnik, Aaron Kutnick, Sophie Landres, Jen Mazzarino, Charlotte McKay, Lynnette Miranda, Michaela O’Brien, Eylul Iscen Ozgun, Taylor Peterson, Rosalia Romero, Kirsten Rutschman, Carmel Scharf, Dan Smith, Max Symuleski, Tara Trahey, Michael Anthony Williams, Nikita Yoshgewarun, and Linda Zhang. Presented by: Creative Time Summit and 56th Venice Biennale, with additional support from Mellon Foundation Humanities Writ Large and the Offices of the Provost, Vice Provost for the Arts, and Dean of the Humanities at Duke University. Special thanks to: Srinivas Aravamudan, Lee Baker, Sheila Dillon, Sally Kornbluth, Peter Lange, Scott Lindroth, and Richard Powell.
Vocal Processions
The Phillips Collection and Embassy Row, Washington DC (2001/2014) Director’s Cut (2021). Video (color, sound) 3:41 minutes.
This work consists of individual anthems sung live in art museums and galleries for unsuspecting audiences. It was first presented as part of Lasch’s ‘Anthems for Four Voices’ at The Phillips Collection in Washington DC, where all the footage for this video originates. Selection of Anthems and Languages include: Mexico in English, Jamaica in Japanese, Yugoslavia in English, Chinese in French.
Credits
Author & Artistic Director: Pedro Lasch / Co-Producers: Donald Russell and Stephanie Sherman / Curator: Vesela Sretenović / Conductor: Rodney Wynkoop / Vocal performers: Kristen Blackman, Fran Newark, Erica Dunkle, Cameron Aiken, Larry Speakman, and Nathan Jones / Color guard performers: Rodrigo Carazas, Emma Whitaker, Claire Felonis, Lauren Reuter. Videography and Photography: Joey Alzamora, Esther Gabara, Jay Hendrick, Aaron Kutnick, Jon-Sesrie Goff, Esther Probst, Fabiola Yurcisin, Katie Micak. Audio: Aaron Kutnick. Research: Kirsten Rutschman and Imani Mosley. Presented by: The Phillips Collection, International Forum, and Provisions Library – Art for Social Change, with additional support from the Offices of the Provost, Vice Provost for the Arts, and Dean of the Humanities at Duke University. Special thanks to: Dorothy Kosinski, Klaus Ottmann, Srinivas Aravamudan, Lee Baker, Sheila Dillon, Sally Kornbluth, Peter Lange, Scott Lindroth, Richard Powell, Michael Schoenfeld; Zumrad Ahmedjanova, Catherine Albertini-Torres, Azeddine Chergui, miriam cooke, Alyssa Dack, Tatiana DeGermán Ribón, Alexandra Dimsdale, Tim Doud, Landy Elliott, Erica Hoskins, Elizabeth Jackson, Jonathan Leibovic, Diana Murray-Watts, Fattaneh Naemi-Rad, Indri Puspita Sari, Laura Ramirez-Rasgado, Carmela Restrepo, Duncan Shaw, Juliani Sidharta and DTS Language Services.
Composition No.46
The Phillips Collection, Washington DC (2001/2014), Director’s Cut (2021). Video (color, sound) 13:21 minutes.
This work premiered at The Phillips Collection in 2014 and it includes the anthems the United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay, Uzbekistan all sung at the same time, each one in the language of the country that follows it.
Credits
Author & Artistic Director: Pedro Lasch / Co-Producers: Donald Russell and Stephanie Sherman / Curator: Vesela Sretenović / Musical Composition: Aristides Llaneza / Conductor: Rodney Wynkoop / Vocal performers: Kristen Blackman, Fran Newark, Erica Dunkle, Cameron Aiken, Larry Speakman, and Nathan Jones / Instrumentalists: Hsiao-Mei Ku, Leonid Zilper, Donald L. Oehler, John B. N. Hanks / Color guard performers: Rodrigo Carazas, Emma Whitaker, Claire Felonis, Lauren Reuter. Videography and Photography: Joey Alzamora, Esther Gabara, Jay Hendrick, Aaron Kutnick, Jon-Sesrie Goff, Esther Probst, Fabiola Yurcisin, Katie Micak. Audio: Aaron Kutnick. Research: Kirsten Rutschman and Imani Mosley. Presented by: The Phillips Collection, International Forum, and Provisions Library – Art for Social Change, with additional support from the Offices of the Provost, Vice Provost for the Arts, and Dean of the Humanities at Duke University. Special thanks to: Dorothy Kosinski, Klaus Ottmann, Srinivas Aravamudan, Lee Baker, Sheila Dillon, Sally Kornbluth, Peter Lange, Scott Lindroth, Richard Powell, Michael Schoenfeld; Zumrad Ahmedjanova, Catherine Albertini-Torres, Azeddine Chergui, miriam cooke, Alyssa Dack, Tatiana DeGermán Ribón, Alexandra Dimsdale, Tim Doud, Landy Elliott, Erica Hoskins, Elizabeth Jackson, Jonathan Leibovic, Diana Murray-Watts, Fattaneh Naemi-Rad, Indri Puspita Sari, Laura Ramirez-Rasgado, Carmela Restrepo, Duncan Shaw, Juliani Sidharta and DTS Language Services.
Anatomy of the Nation
Anatomical Theater, Bologna. Director’s Cut (2017-2018). Video (color/sound). 6:39 minutes.
Anatomy of the Nation is a video artwork staged in the iconic Teatro Anatomico in Bologna, and premiered at the Museum of Modern Art (MAMbo). Along with other Bologna Social Practice Lab public productions, this work was created for the Academy of Global Humanities & Critical Theory and Fondazione Gramsci with co-director Rossella Mazzaglia and lab participants from around the world. Other Polit(t)ico interventions from the Abstract Nationalism series were staged at Bologna’s main square and Piazza Nettuno, the Museo Archeologico, and Piazza Verdi.
Credits
Artistic Direction: Pedro Lasch, Rossella Mazzaglia / Production management: Massimo Carosi / Choreography: Cristina Kristal Rizzo / Music and Sound: Mathias Hinke / Performance: Antonia Casadei, Laura Colomban, Antonella De Francesco, Laura Gibertini, Yancen Guo, Margherita Isola, Rossella Mazzaglia / Photography: Pedro Lasch, Benedetta Manzi / Videography: Rita Maralla, Teresa Sala / Video Editing: Michael Blair. Production: Bologna Social Practice Lab 2017 in collaboration with Biblioteca dell’Archiginnasio, Fondazione Gramsci – Emilia Romagna, Festival Danza Urbana di Bologna.
About the Artists
Pedro Lasch is a visual artist, Duke professor, and FHI Social Practice Lab director. His work has been exhibited at Queens Museum of Art, Nasher Museum, The Phillips Collection, MoMA PS1, MASS MoCA (US); Royal College of Art, Hayward Gallery (UK); Centro Nacional de las Artes, MUAC, National Palace Gallery (Mexico); Prospect 4 Triennial New Orleans (2017), Gwangju Biennial (2006), Havana Biennial (2015), Documenta 13 (ANDANDAND, 2012), and 56th Venice Biennale (Creative Time Summit, 2015), among others. Author of five books, his work has appeared in numerous catalogues, as well as journals like October Magazine, Saber Ver, Art Forum, ARTnews, Cultural Studies, The New York Times, and La Jornada. His online pedagogical artwork ART of the MOOC (English-Spanish) has had over 60,000 enrolled participants in 134 countries since it launched in 2015.
Michael Blair began creating videos in 2001. He has since produced and collaborated on a variety of narrative, documentary, and marketing projects, including work with organizations like the University of North Carolina Greensboro, University of North Alabama, and Pride: Durham, and film festivals like Full Frame, Cucalorus, and Tribeca. In addition to production work, he has taught post-production and screenwriting and collaborated with choreographers on multimedia design for dance performances with Hollins University and the American Dance Festival. He joined Duke OIT’s Academic Media Production team in 2015.