HONORARY MENTION
jodi
Joan Heemskerk, Dirk Paesmans
"Jodi" is part of the anti-art movement: they favor anti-subjective art, i.e. they work from the assumption that there is no such thing as "individuality" or an "autonomous mind". People are enslaved by their biological machinery and subliminal drives on the one hand, and by the blind, relentless, unremitting rush of the world on the other hand. Crushed between these two forces, people are nothing but helpless spectators who stand gaping at the violent spectacle that is taking place within and around them. The notion of the conscious mind obstructs rather than elucidates our capacity to understand this situation - or at least, that is what anti-subjective art believes.
The two people who form "Jodi" - Dirk Paesmans and Joan Heemskerk- hold that there is no such thing as the genius of the artist, and that interpretations of their work are irrelevant. They refuse to explain themselves and relish the confusion their visitors find themselves in. Page upon page filled with strange symbols, scrambled images and inexplicable messages appear on one's screen, all of them intentionally devoid of meaning. People visiting "Jodi's" site are often startled: they fear that their browser has gone haywire or that their computer has been infected by a virus. "Jodi's" site seems to resist and deflect communication - and on the net, that's almost funny. But more importantly, they stress that interpretation, communication and a solid sense of self are perhaps not that easy to achieve nor as reliable as many people expect and believe them to be; and that is a very crucial notion.
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