Wonder
Povera
"Just a little slice of America,
Just a little taste of America...
Wonder Bread commercial in the Eighties.
Wonder Povera, a time specific multi media project, addresses
the dynamics of escalating violence, the culmination and
distribution of fear, and the present rhetoric of war in
everyday life, by investigating the "wonder years" as they
developed in post WW II America.
To critically evaluate the war culture of the years before
the national territory of the United States was violated,
and to flaunt the issue of how warfare disseminates disaster,
producing ultimately, more violence, I have chosen to work
with very specific materials and objects: Wonder Bread, an
exclusive symbol of the American culture, toy soldiers, the
military camouflage pattern, and chunks of red meat, made
of wax.
In the colorful red, blue and yellow dots, the cornerstone
of Wonder bread's logo, I saw the post war era in America,
one defined by a spirit of optimism, technological advancement,
military supremacy, and economic growth. Wonder Bread's very
name embodied this spirit: the wonder of a new era.
Wonder Bread's colorful dots constitute, in Wonder Povera,
the "frame" of optimism and the protective field of those
whose mission it is to bring about a "world increasingly
subject to the rule of law," while their integration with
meat, a signifier of power, financial assurance and growth,
refers to the politics of food distribution.
I have combined the all green Airfix infantry with the "hole
free" white sliced bread to form the "wonder army," while,
to create the "wonder war" disguise installation I have replaced
the military camouflage pattern with the Wonder bread's dots
preserving, however, the military colors.
Wonder Povera includes installations, drawings, photographs,
a 3 dimensional work, which resembles a pop-up book, the
"wonder war" board game for three players, an interactive
computer animation, and slide projections. The projected
illustrations are from the army manual "Wear and Appearance
of Army Uniforms and Insignia."
|
