″ E M P I R E - the limits of reason “
A multi-method installation
The speech is a dramaturgical means to refer to ideologies and positions that demonstrate
a higher order. The complex interaction of a sovereign or nation on the one side and an
allegiance on the other is the prerequisite of this dialectic of power.
Not only the spoken word reaches us, but also the gesture and a physical attitude that unites
this performative entirety.
My original interest was focused on deconstructing these scenic moments and the spoken
words as political substance and power- confirming interplay.. This led me to work with an
actor to research and redefine this synthesis of motoric and content established play.
In the exhibition, I projected the test shots that developed from this process onto an old
heater, whose radiator ribs split the image, cutting it to a no longer clearly visible picture.
The face is no longer comprehensible; all that remains intact, visually, is the executing arm
that rises from the divided projection.
The main object of the installation is a podium made of white board. The podium is an object
that again divides the space into the limitations of the sovereign subject, and the expansion in
the form of the distribution of values and order.
On the ceiling I fixed a projector that casts an image of the complete words of Barack Obama´s
acceptance speech of the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize.
As part of the object the speech rolls – like the end titles of a film – towards the podium.
"...The limits of reason" is a figure of speech that Obama used during his Nobel Peace Prize
speech. The animation lasts as long as the real speech: 35 minutes.
The original words are taken from the New York Times, 10 December 2009.
Silvia Robin Ederer_2010
translated by Lisa Rosenblatt
shown at unORTnung VI, 2010