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Peter Friedl

Peter Friedl’s (1960, Oberneukirchen, Austria) multidisciplinary practice draws upon his knowledge of dramatic theory and linguistics and experience of working asa theater critic to explore the constructed breadth of historyand the power dynamics that govern society. While rarelynarrative, his video works are marked by a piercingdramaturgy. This allows the artist to walk the thin linebetween fact and fiction, documentation and theatricality, eeriness and poignancy. Resolutely unpretentious, his works are full of citations that reside outside the realm of contemporary art, from epic theatre to slapstick humour.

Friedl often departs from political events to question our perception of them, as evidenced by the disturbing video Liberty City (2007) in which we see a (white) policeman being beaten and kicked to the floor by two (Black) men. Looped and uncut, the footage is blurry, giving the impression that it is an amateur video shot at night by apasserby. In reality, it is a staged and inverted reenactment ofa violent episode in contemporary American history: the killing of the (Black) motorcyclist Arthur McDuffie by (white)policemen in Liberty City, Miami on 17 December 1979 when McDuffie was stopped by officers who beat him to death. The policemen were acquitted which led to a rebellion knownas the 1980 Miami Riots. Friedl shot the video around theLiberty Square Housing Project, a complex built in the 1930s to segregate Black Americans from white communities, asevidenced today by the remnants of a wall. By reversing the power dynamics of this event, Friedl points to racial biases and confronts the viewer’s compassion. Relying on this viscerally triggering content to create an audience response, the work was described by the artist as “epic theatre in the style of a documentary”.

Artworks

  1. Peter Friedl, "Liberty City", 2007. Vidéo couleur, son. 11 min 11 sec, en boucle. Collection Mudam Luxembourg. Acquisition 2023 © Courtesy de l’artiste et de la galerie Erna Hecey
    Peter Friedl Liberty City, 2007

    Vidéo couleur, son
    1 min 11 sec, en boucle
    Collection Mudam Luxembourg
    Acquisition 2023
    © Photo : Courtesy de l’artiste et de la galerie Erna Hecey

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