Associação Cultural Videobrasil

On occasion of Unerasable memories – a historic look at the Videobrasil Collection (2014), the writer and curator João Laia comments on Dan Halter’s Untitled (Zimbabwean Queen of Rave). The video draws a parallel between footage from rave parties in European countries and human rights demonstrations in Africa. In his statement, Laia revisits topics of relevance to the global South, which he also addresses in a text published on the exhibition book, such as the imposition of hegemonic discourses and image re-contextualization by the media. The curator expounds on the similarities and dissimilarities between the events portrayed by the artist: rave parties have often been interpreted merely as a hedonistic celebration, a denial of daily life, whereas the demonstrations in Africa were intended to claim basic, commonplace rights. Nevertheless, the movements resemble one another in the way they have been deviated from their original purposes and re-signified, in this particular piece, by television. Ravers and demonstrators, everyone dances in Untitled (Zimbabwean Queen of Rave). Once again, Laia discusses the historical connotations – at political and artistic levels – of the use of the body. The piece was first shown by Videobrasil during the 15^th Festival (2005).