TERRORVISION
An Exploration of How Personal, Spiritual, Political and Physical Events
Influence Ideas of Terror
New York, NY - Recent historical events have compelled us to move through our lives in fear of what lies ahead. At this moment in history, Exit Art, a nonprofit contemporary art center, presents Terrorvision from May 1 to July 31, 2004. Terrorvision is a multidisciplinary arts project that examines how definitions of terror in today's society are shaped by individual and collective visions, experiences, memories and histories.
Terrorvision explores how personal, spiritual and physical events influence our notions of terror. How these unforgettable moments, and the cultural and media artifacts that represent them, have come to define our most extreme fears. Terrorvision investigates the interplay among the historical, personal, spiritual, political, ethical and metaphorical ideas of terror, and, even further, how these definitions and relationships change based on geography, generation and personal experience. Terrorvision is designed to serve as a study of terror as depicted through the ingenuity and inventiveness of today's artists.
Threats and demonstrations of terror have most certainly infiltrated our daily lives. We experience heightened security on the subway, in airports and near entrances to tunnels and bridges. The news media validates and often even encourages these extreme fears by immediately and constantly presenting stories of suicide bombers, kidnapped children, natural catastrophes, environmental disasters, Anthrax threats, domestic violence, and devastating global diseases.
While Exit Art conceived of Terrorvision before September 11, 2001, the attacks on the Pentagon and World Trade Center make this exhibition seem even more significant. This show responds to the renewed urgency with which contemporary artists are presently addressing the concept of terror. To visualize these responses, Exit Art invited 59 international artists who created works that define their most extreme fears. Terrorvision is composed of five, inter-related programs: an exhibition of 36 artworks, 18 videos that are part of ongoing daily screenings, a discussion series, performance, and video evenings. The public programs will further explore the themes raised in the exhibition and present works that show a history of artists who have come to define what terror means to them through their artwork. |