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It's just a single swing of a shovel
by Giorgi Gago Gagoshidze
2015, 7′
Presented at VISIO – European Programme on Artists’ Moving Images – 4th edition in occasion of the exhibition VISIO. Next Generation Moving Images
Production and Postproduction: Giorgi Gago Gagoshidze
Music: Grace Jones “Corporate Cannibal”; Ludovico Einaudi “Quel che resta”; Chris Zabriskie “Cylinder Three”
Voiceover: Maxine Puorro
Music: Grace Jones “Corporate Cannibal”; Ludovico Einaudi “Quel che resta”; Chris Zabriskie “Cylinder Three”
Voiceover: Maxine Puorro
Special thanks to: Hayastan Shakarian, Tekla Aslanishvili; Till Wittwer; Azin Feizabadi; Hito Steyerl; Georgina Hill; Tamara Magradze; Levani Gagoshidze; Viktor Bonen
Courtesy the artist
Courtesy the artist
March the 28th, 2011 is remembered in Georgia and Armenia as the date of one of the most serious computer crises in recent years. The Internet system of the two countries was down for hours, affecting millions of people. It is hard to believe that what was thought to be an act of cyberterrorism was actually caused by Hayastan Shakarian, a retired 75-year resident of a small village outside the capital. The lady, looking for copper to resell, had simply severed the main cable of the entire network of the two countries. By manipulating the story, and through a language that combines digital animation and documentary film-making, Gagoshidze’s film becomes an ironic celebration of this unaware hacking action and of the clash between real and virtual. The artist re-discusses cyberterrorism stereotypes, reminding us of the physical frailty of the global Internet network which now underpins our society and the system of information exchange.
Giorgi Gago Gagoshidze lives and works in Berlin. He studied at the Tbilisi State Academy of Arts where he received an MA. During that period he formed student collectives together with fellow students with whom he was actively engaged in mobilizing and organizing a student body that would demand systemic reforms within the University. This process and the collective action led to the current on-going summer school project, “Evolution of consciousness” and the “Post-Human Society”, which he is co-organising and co-leading. It was created at the beginning of September 2015, and aims to rise the consciousness of the necessity to reform the state educational system among the student body. He continued his studies at KABK in The Hague; in 2012 he joined the New Media class at the University of Arts in Berlin, where he received his degree and is currently completing his master. Recently his focus has shifted more towards the moving image, the politics of its production, distribution and circulation. Recent exhibitions: “IMAGE IS A VIRUS // ON ACTIVISM ACUD”, MACHT NEW, Berlin; “Vision and Fear Station”, GFZK Leipzig, Essen, 2015; “The Next Generation V”, Folkwang Museum, Berlin, 2014; “What it is?”, The Showroom, Berlin, 2014.