INVESTIGATED
Video Installation 06.11.–09.11.2014
With Khadija von Zinnenburg Carroll and Jesse Weaver Shipley
contributions Mensa Ansah of the FOKN Bois, Gustav Duesing, Claire Loussouarn, Niq Mhlongo, Michal Murawski, Wietske Maas, Alex Flynn, Melanie Wigg, Alex McLean, and Toby Matthiesen
Investigated is a multichannel video installation about the uncertainty of information and its interpretation. It follows the story of two information gathers, liars, and data thieves who have disappeared and the narrator is trying to find out what happened to them. It is told from the point of view of the investigator trying to track them down. The project mixes genres, blending documentary, surveillance, narrative, and experimental styles. It is a forensic report on disappeared persons. It is unclear who the investigated are, what they are doing, what they are planning, and who they work for. They are artists or spies or scholars or journalists but they seem to traffic in information and media in some manner. They work hard to confound interpretation and obscure the meaning of their actions. The investigator struggles to understand the media trail of these fugitives, the potential confusion between research, politics, art, and spying, and how to understand intent. The footage explores how information circulates, what it is used for, and how it is interpreted.
Khadija von Zinnenburg Carroll is currently in Berlin as a Humboldt Fellow. Her performances, films and installations have most recently been shown in the Extracity Kunsthaal Antwerp, Institute of Contemporary Art London, National Museum of Australia, Marrakech Biennale, and Haus der Kulturen der Welt Berlin. For more information see: www.kdja.org
Jesse Weaver Shipley is a filmmaker, scholar, and writer. He is the author of the books Living the Hiplife (Duke University Press 2013) and Trickster Theatre (Indiana University Press 2015). His films and video installations include Living the Hiplife, Black Star, High Tea, and Is It Sweet?