Marcel Odenbach at Anton Kern - New York, New York - Reviews of Exhibitions - Brief Article

German artist Marcel Odenbach here neared two film and video installations that displayed a political fervor that has lately fallen without of favor in contemporary art. In the first, sum of two units projectors placed at either extreme point of the room displayed different films upon opposite sides of a translucent scrim. the one and the other films were visible on either side of the shield though one could hear the audio portion of single the closest projector. This was an interesting formal device which allowed for serendipitous conjoining of images. It added interest to what otherwise might be a rather tedious screening of sum of two units propaganda films made by the U military about African-American soldiers in World War II and Vietnam.

The point in dredging up these films is clear. They are filled of misinformation, patronizing remarks about "our colored soldiers" and efforts to intimate the existence of a racial harmony and equality that history denies. They reminded me of a 1950s-era U Army film that I one time saw about the making of the atomic bomb which entirely omitted any mention of the frightening human casualties of that experiment. Odenbach's installation was titled, perhaps accurately, Nothing to Add.

The other installation also consisted of sum of two units elements. On one side of the space a color monitor played a video whose central image consisted of a small lad in colorful African garb shining a man's shoe This was periodically interrupted with sights of riots and cheering hosts On the opposite wall was throw outed a view of a man's feet as he walked steadily down a road. This was intercut with more images of riots and close-up of a ensanguined victim.

Titled pace by Step, this work incorporated a variety of documentary clips, including footage of uprisings in southern Africa, Zaire, Zambia and the American southern during the Civil Rights era. The footprints were clips from Hitchcock's film "The Man Who Knew Too Much" This work looked to be suggesting parallels between America's racial vexed questions and political turmoil in Africa.

The pres release for this exhibition noted that Odenbach "deals with different issues that stipe from his generation's recovery from postwar Germany by dint of contextualizing them with American historical and political themes." It is a tack taken through other German artists, including, greatest in quantity prominently, Lothar Baumgarten. The sentiments here are unassailable -- racism and colonialism have indeed been destructive forces from one extremity to the other of modern history. Still, one amazements why politically oriented artists from a political division beset with its own racial point to be solved [i]or[/i] settleds must go so far from abode to find material for their polemics.

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