Des Moines

Des Moines

Christian Jankowski

Des Moines Art Center
4700 Grand Avenue
June 22–August 28, 2005

Curated by Jeff Fleming

Can dialectics break bricks? Christian Jankowski often romantically reframes this Situationist koan in three dimensions, not by dubbing sound tracks over preexisting film (as per René Vienet’s kung-fu technique) but rather by capturing on camera a minister thanking God for the properties of the video medium or aspiring actors discussing their love of cinema, shot in the style of classic Cinecittà productions (whose studios serve as the setting). The artist’s first US survey features fourteen such video and film works and lesser-known photographs and silk screens. The catalogue includes essays by Fleming, Norman M. Klein, Jordan Kantor, and Bruce Wagner.

Travels to the MIT List Visual Arts Center, Cambridge, MA, Oct. 14–Dec. 30; Foundation for Art and Creative Technology, Liverpool, Jan. 19–Mar. 19, 2006.