AT-TA Network

By Christopher Phillips
About installations from 1999 to 2001, Babel Series, Karaoke, Four Duets, Soliloquy Trilogy.
What was the advantage for her shifting from photo montage to video art? The text reveals that there are solid groundings in her seemingly comical art works.

"Karaoke" (2000) description.
10 amateur performers are singing karaoke randomly... The song is "Killing Me Softly." The subject of the art piece is "acquisition of new language." What is the real meaning of acquiring new language, and the thought contained in the selected song?

Altstatt, Rosanne. `Killing Me Softly… An Interview with Candice Breitz,’ Kunst-Bulletin (No. 6: June, 2001).
This interview was originally published in Kunst-Bulletin in German translation.

Worldwide famous pop stars such as Madonna, Wham, Grace Jones, Queen, Prince, ABBA, and Police.
They are played simultaneously creating a shrill cacophony. Although it gives humorous impression with nonsensical baby talk by the celebrities, somehow gives ominous feeling.
This art piece points out the relationship between pop culture and language in the globalization age.

This text was a proposal from Bretz for her traveling show at Berlin and Essen. It is a very rare case to read pre-creation proposal of an artist, as such texts aren’t normally included in exhibition catalogs.
Though the main subject is immigration issues in Europe, as long as there are nation borders and there is no global common language, this issue is common to all countries and regions.
Breitz herself had to move to NY from South Africa which is her home country, and then to Berlin. When she created this piece she had just moved to Berlin and needed to adapt herself in the new environment. However, there is no chance to find out her personal issues of that moment through this work. Her accurate judgment and acknowledgement created a great art piece that addresses universal issues in every society.