Art is Power (1985)

The ritual transmission of a military parade from Moscow’s Red Square: On every anniversary of the October Revolution, this was loyally broadcast by all the television stations in the so-called people’s democracies. In Robakowski’s work, this material is used to reconstruct and deconstruct public spectacle. The substitution of the original  television commentary with a song sung in German by Laibach (a group from what was then Yugoslavia and is now Slovenia) removes the spectacle from its pompous temporal context and reveals the absolutism of its alluring power. The totalitarian display is in itself art – politically active art, the art of all-out pathos – even if we call it only “quote art unquote”.

If you liked Art is Power, you might also like…

93% match

Ex Machina

2015

87% match

September 5

2024

83% match

Closet Land

1991

82% match

Watchmen

2009

74% match

What Did You Do in the War, Daddy?

1966

71% match

Rogue Agent

2022

69% match

To Be or Not to Be

1983

69% match

Roger Waters: The Wall - Live in Berlin

1990

61% match

Get Smart

2008

60% match

Final Score

2018

60% match

The Fugitive

1947

60% match

Duck Soup

1933

60% match

The Great Dictator

1940

60% match

The Transformers: The Movie

1986

60% match

Maniac

2012

60% match

Operation Crossbow

1965

60% match

Land of the Blind

2006

60% match

Head

1968

60% match

55 Days at Peking

1963

60% match

The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash

1978