Carte de presse 


By Line Rosenvinge

Brandishing a cheaply manufactured press card from Bangkok, Colonel succeeds in gaining admittance to e.g. the Venice Biennale. For he is on a special assignment, one which constitutes part of his own artistic agenda, yet he is there as a lost figure, as a pathetic artist with a serious determination to be there and to make the most of it. He was not invited, no-one has sent him, and his video reports are not made with any particular context in mind - but they are an obsession to him.

You see, Colonel participates in order to comment. With his Venice project, he wants us to associate it with the history linked to his own statement "junk for junk, false for false". With his shabby press card, he is given what are often very poor reproductions of works of art which may well be masterpieces. How is it possible to defend using these reproductions, which in themselves are reproductions (slides are copied to other slides ad infinitum), and which upon hitting the press are devalued once again? Nonetheless, the slide makes you go all proprietorial - you have a hold, a grip, on some materials, even though they are merely a selection from a selection.

All critics and reviewers choose their slides from the very same limited selection; only a few bring their own photographers. Consequently, all those reading about the art event will have to form their impression on the basis of this particular, narrow selection of images. It is all very limited and false in scope, but nonetheless it is a fantastic take on the whole thing - and oh! to have the good slides! Of course, you'll need to get a fake press card first.



the video was made in 1997 , but shown only in 2001 as a video installation at the "biennale de Venice" home page of
The DCA Foundation and then accompagnied with this explicative  text  .
some other videos were made in Venice in 1997 (like "pay back") .and also shown on the net .
the project "carte de presse " (collection of  press photos with a fake press card started in 1992)