"Because Who Is Perfect?"

I have posted this video before in the past. I came across it again this afternoon and thought it was worth posting again, because it is a topic I feel deeply about, being close to my heart and resonates with me today as a result of the way I'm feeling, a little 'disabled', not 'normal' and very imperfect. However, I think I am neither, and both simultaneously. It is all matter of personal perception.



 Language can be a constructive powerful tool or a destructive weapon. It can be misconstrued and misinterpreted, depending on deportment, tone and intent.  Both our ears and eyes can deceive us easily. We judge, and think what we see and hear, is truth or falsehood. What we see isn't always what we get. What we think we've heard, isn't always what is being said. Add to this, our contemporary society's preoccupation with political correctness to complicate matters in the way we convey language, in all it's meaning, and in all that all that it implies.

There has been some interesting thought provoking discussion about this particular video and about other film shorts produced by Pro Infirmis, an organization for the 'disabled'. Let me say, I really dislike the word disability, because it is often reserved for those of us who are 'disabled' who are labeled as some how being outside the definition of what is so called 'normal'; another word I really dislike. We all are 'disabled' in one way or another, and I question, just what is 'normal'. I am of the opinion that imperfection and diversity is what is normal.
I find it curious that the description I have posted of the video from Youtube below, starts by referring to the mannequins as being 'disabled'



" Disabled mannequins will be eliciting astonished looks from passers-by on Zurich's Bahnhofstrasse today. Between the perfect mannequins, there will be figures with scoliosis or brittle bone disease modelling the latest fashions. One will have shortened limbs; the other a malformed spine. The campaign has been devised for the International Day of Persons with Disabilities by Pro Infirmis, an organization for the disabled. Entitled "Because who is perfect? Get closer.", it is designed to provoke reflection on the acceptance of people with disabilities. Director Alain Gsponer has captured the campaign as a short film.
The figures are life-sized, three-dimensional representations of Miss Handicap 2010, Jasmin Rechsteiner, radio presenter and film critic Alex Oberholzer, track and field athlete Urs Kolly, blogger Nadja Schmid and actor Erwin Aljukic.
"We often go chasing after ideals instead of accepting life in all its diversity. Pro Infirmis strives especially for the acceptance of disability and the inclusion of people with disabilities," says Mark Zumbühl, a member of the Pro Infirmis Executive Board, in describing the campaign. "

                                                                               

See our former TV-Spots under:

Bear: http://youtu.be/zFWr-CKMWGY
Gianni Blumer: http://youtu.be/Qr-xnqgpin8

Art 21 - Consumption and Contemporary Art Matters

Honestly, I have never thought of myself as having a great appreciation of contemporary art. I admit, I haven't had a lot of exposure to it, due to my own biases, and other factors. As a creative person, I need to keep an open mind. One of the many antecedents of this is, going to University at an experienced mature age, where you are exposed to the past, plunged into the present, and I dare to say, even getting glimpses into the future.

We can not know or envision our future without knowing and understanding our past.  Contemporary artists  that actualize this in their art practice I admire, and am always very drawn to the art they create, the way they think, and who they are as individuals.

Particularly, I appreciate what Mel Chin refers to when he talks about making art. To paraphrase him, he says, it's not about one method of making art , and the technique used, is minor. What is important about making art he says, is the "diversity of ideas" and how they are transmitted. 

What is compelling to me, is the trans-formative, and liberating power of what art making can and I believe, should be. I love what Mel Chin says about his art being "driven by poetry and pragmatism".

We cannot easily ignore our consumptive and contemporary society we live in, and thus our art at some point is bound to reflect it in one way or another. If not, I think we are trying to live an insular and isolated existence. 

Contemporary art must take into consideration what has gone before, needs a mindfulness of the present, reflects on how our past, considering the affects and effects of all these states in time, that can or will transform our vision for hopefully, a better world, in the future.

All of the artists included in this particular Art 21 video, take these matters seriously into account, in one way or another. They are encouraging us to shift our perceptions, are transforming, liberating, inventing, and expanding our imaginations and enable us to examine our values within our present  contemporary world. I love Art 21!

Watch the full episode. See more ART:21.