Micro-review: Justin Kemp at Club Internet

Justin Kemp’s Pseudo Event, an animated loop of red ribbon-cutting photo ops cobbled together in a more-or-less seamless progression, wryly mocks the notion of progress by satirizing the accompanying inauguration ceremonies. The subjects range from politicians in bad suits, and ten-scissor teams, to hapless chumps with outsize scissors. The sheer number of these images available seems to mock the inane ritual itself. But what inauguration would be complete without a ribbon cutting? Apparently, not many. More significant to Pseudo Event is the question of just what is being inaugurated. And here, the removal of each ceremony’s referent is the linchpin of the piece.

The Club Internet version of Pseudo Event, where the 13,900-pixel-long red ribbon-cutting event seems to continue ad infinitum in its jittery progression—versus the post on one of the artist’s websites that requires viewers to scroll horizontally for sixteen feet—is the more successful version. This sleight of technical wizardry transforms the piece from a string of still images into a developed and poetic work, if still only a witty one-liner.

Keep It Simple Stupid, curated by Constant Dullaart
Through 30 September 2008