Artists Statement

GEOPOLITICS OF MEDIA

Karaoke’s frequent habitat is the bar; its participants are stars; its technology is glamorous; and its message is personal glory. Contraband, Stowaway Lounge transforms this amateur medium to explore issues of national identity, local cultures, Hollywood media clichés and the relationship between imagery, text and live performance.
Contraband, Stowaway Lounge invites the audience to step on stage. In a club environment, participants can select from a jukebox of artist-made karaoke videos from around the world and sing-along with video projection. The videos forContraband, Stowaway Lounge reinvent the pop-cultural medium of karaoke. From Tokyo to Tallinn, the ubiquitous, democratic form of entertainment activates national identity, nostalgia, sentimentality, and glimmers of rock-stardom. Individual performances transform this generic format with ironic, camp, critical and individualized meanings.

Erupting within the entertainment-industrial complex, these do-it-yourself appropriations recode the corporate into the personal. In a world that is determined by processes of globalization, the translation of cultural forms such as Karaoke allows for the radical localization of the global spectacle.
From ABBA to Johnny Cash, we are expecting a diverse range of interpretations of pop standards and artists’ favourites. Hosts Christina Ulke and Rachel Mayeri will pass the mic to you; the special MC of the evening is sparkle a.k.a. Marc Herbst.

• Christina Ulke (DE/US) is an artist based in LA, USA and Berlin.
• Rachel Mayeri (US) is a video and installation artist whose work often deals with the intersection of science, art, and society. Soo Kim is an artist who lives and works in Los Angeles, California.
• Marc Herbst is a visual artist, writer and co-founder and editor of the Journal of Aesthetics & Protest.

Full document (PDF) p. 146