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Umstülpung
by Brud
2015, 8′
Presented at VISIO – European Programme on Artists’ Moving Images – 4th edition
Graphics: Claude Heiland-Allen
Singing: “Amhran Mhuighinse”
Voice: Bea McMahon
Singing: “Amhran Mhuighinse”
Voice: Bea McMahon
Courtesy the artist
The references to the aesthetics and potential of virtual reality are the basis of the video Umstülpung by the Brud collective. The title of the video, which literally means ‘inverted,’ refer to the geometric shape that describes the inversion of the cube, used by artists to conceptually subvert the so-called white cube, the archetype of the exhibition space for contemporary art. The soundtrack to the rotation of this three-dimensional solid is Amhrán Mhuighinse, a traditional Irish song connected with the death of a loved one. Sung here by the artist Bea McMahon, the Gaelic lyrics metaphorically tell of separation and travel, alluding to death as a natural part of the journey of life. The duration of the video is the exact time it takes light to travel the distance between the Sun and the Earth.
Brud (Polish for “filth”) is a shifting assemblage of sentient animals, vegetables, and minerals. No two are alike. Each instance is unique. Special Snowflake. They call themselves “a synecdoche, a hivemind, suicide bomb, or, a four-letter word”. Depends who you ask really. Their opinions contradict, their pronouns are plural, their genders fluid. Brud lives in a slaughterhouse in the center of Warsaw, called “Rzeźnia”. They run it as an Opera House. Here they create contemporary opera, in both the etymological and colloquial senses. “Opera” in Latin translates to “work”, which in Polish could be “Robota”, or “Praca”. Brud thus performs Robotic Praxis. Brud has issued a call to arms: “Absoletum Obsoletum”, or, “If It works It’s Out of Date”. Recent exhibitions include the XII Baltic Triennial, Vilnius, The Pink Spy, MHKA, Antwerp, and Zoon in a Zoot-Suit, kim?, Riga, Latvia.