Art Lies, Volume 48, Fall 2005 Page: 96
120 p. : ill. ; 28 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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AUSTIN ..
Phil Collins: El mundo no escucha/The world won't listen
Lora Reynolds Gallery
Risa PuleoIn his installation at Lora Reynolds Gallery, British-
born, Belfast-based artist Phil Collins continues a
practice of immersing himself, culturally speaking,
in regions engaged in political turmoil. Whether his
city of choice is Baghdad, where in 2002 the artist
invited aspiring local actors to sit for screen tests
(Baghdad Screen Test), or Ramallah, where Collins
documented the city's youth partaking in a sixteen-
hour disco dance-a-thon (They Shoot Horses), the
artist bypasses associations propagated through
mass media images of certain places, offering
poignant glances into the personal lives of their
inhabitants.
For the project presented at Lora Reynolds
Gallery, El mundo no escucha/The world won't
listen, Collins took up temporary residence in
BogotA, Colombia. Borrowing his piece's title from
the seminal British cult band The Smiths' 1987
album, Collins' project began with an invitation.
The artist wheatpasted large, silk-screened post-
Phill Collins, El mundo no escucha/The world won't listen,
2005
Screen capture of digital video
ers throughout the city of BogotA, inviting "the
shy, the dissatisfied, the narcissistic, the shower
superstars and anyone who wants to be someone
else for a night" to perform Karaoke de los Smiths.
These same posters now paper a wall of the Lora
Reynolds Gallery from floor to ceiling, providing a
bit of context for the hour-long video that is the
exhibition's centerpiece.
Comprised of a series of stationary medium
shots, Collins' video captures each volunteer stand-
ing on stage in front of a backdrop, which alternates
between a k<itschy Hawaiian sunset and a treelinedEL MUNDO
NO
ESCUCHARA
EL KARAOKE DE L OS SMITHS
PARA LOS TIMIDOS, LOS INSATISFECHOS,
LOS NARCISOS, LAS ESTRELLAS DE LA
DUCHA Y TODOS AQUELLOS QUE
QUIERAN SER OTRO(A) POR UNA NOCHE
Un Nuevo Karaoke Video aue se GrabarA
Durante Noviembre con Fans de los Smiths en Bogota
ITU OPORTUNIDAD DE BRILLAR
Ilama a; 2451040 - email ilovethesmithsmicicticaorg
-yw m - p, .l ..=l
---- n.."""Phill Collins, El mundo no escucha/The world won't listen,
2005
Screen capture of digital video
Tuscan lake. The piece plays on a small monitor,
which forces the viewer to move in close to get a
good look and listen. In nearly every sequence, per-
formers begin timidly, but their initial bashfulness
gives way to bravado as they become immersed in
song. With mouths extended in the widest and sin-
cerest of smiles, they seem to forsake all embar-
rassment or self-consciousness about their off-key
performances and tender dancing. Some close
their eyes while singing Morrissey's perpetually
maudlin lyrics, in some cases bilingually. A few
performers sing in Spanish, indicating these songswere already committed to memory and trans-
lated before they ever arrived. (It is important to
note that the artist did not provide Spanish trans-
lations of the Smiths' lyrics). Others take the stage
boldly, posturing from the start, striking poses and
obviously ready for the spotlight-and, in some
cases, equipped with Smith's paraphernalia. I even
caught myself-more than once-singing along
with these on-screen wannabe Morrisseys.
For all its goofy sincerity, El mundo no escucha/
The world won't listen is not, as one might think,
the mere exploration of the cultural manifestations
of fandom in a foreign place. Rather than ignoring
political unrest in Colombia, Collins' video looks past
thoughts and images of victimization and trauma
and straight to the core of what makes us human-
what moves us, what compels us, what touches an
individual deeply. The Smiths obviously permeated
the cultural consciousness of a generation most cer-
tainly raised in perpetual turmoil. As in all his work,
Phill Collins, El mundo no escucha/The world won't
listen, 2005
Installation view, Lora Reynolds Gallery, Austin
Collins draws personal connections-through tenu-
ous and seemingly superficial cultural commodities
like pop music-as a means of constructing a com-
munity, however brief or ephemeral. Collins' work
clearly articulates this and reminds us that the per-
sonal is always political.
Collins will tamundoe his Karao/The project to the
Istanbul Biennial this fall, where another com
munity of Smiths' fans will have the opportunity
to gather together and revel in "the music that
changed their lives." Will the world listen?96 ARTL!ES Fall 2005
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Bryant, John & Gupta, Anjali. Art Lies, Volume 48, Fall 2005, periodical, 2005; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth228013/m1/98/?rotate=270: accessed April 27, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; .