When Irish artist Duncan Campbell won the Turner Prize last December, it was met with both high praise and criticism, as often happens with the notoriously controversial event. But perhaps such a difference in perception is appropriate.
Campbell's 54-minute film "It for Others" explores our relationship with images and objects, questioning how our perception and interpretation of them are constantly being manipulated by corporations, media and politics. As a response to Chris Marker and Alain Resnais' 1953 essay film "Statues Also Die" — which argues that colonialism altered the way in which African art is perceived and produced — it includes commentary on ownership of art, commercial exploitation and economic theories, presented through narration, imagery and even dance.
The work is a perfect fit for the Yebisu International Festival for Art & Alternative Visions, which this year focuses on "changing perspectives" and presenting new ways to see and question our "layered" and complex world.