Fireworks

‘To mark the end of the millenium, De Appel is presenting Fireworks: an international group show containing works which in some way relate to explosions of energy. The energies that move between the characters in the film by Ann-Sofi Sidén and the men and woman in Katarzyna Kozyra's video installation are metaphorical. The tense relation between a psychiatrist and 'QM' - the Queen of Mud played by Sidén herself - is the subject of a feature film which contains aspects both erotic and thriller-like. Kozyra's images of a men's bathhouse, which she walked around disguised as a man, turned viewers into voyeurs at this year's Venice Biennale. The intriguing documentation of naked men who are unaware of being in the presence of a camera and a woman, illuminates various aspects of relations between the sexes. Johan Grimonprez's stills from his work Dial H-I-S-T-O-R-Y show the faces of people responsible for the aeroplane hijackings of this century. Unconventional portraits of the perpetrators have been extracted from the film that was shown at Documenta X. This produces a tension between the seemingly innocent faces of the kidnappers and their fiery fanaticism. Gerald van der Kaap investigates the oppositional working of image and sound. Cliché images become freighted with new meanings; viewers sit in a hollow designed by van der Kaap where they can select different soundtracks to accompany the images. The music charges you up and constantly altering the meaning of the films. A direct reference to explosive violence, aggression and hidden danger is present in the work Land Mines by Ayse Erkmen. Land Mines is based on a book by the Red Cross in which different types of landmines are described and pictured. The aesthetic objects are ominously attractive. Simon Starling will produce a new work especially for De Appel exhibition. The starting point for this project is the cultural and economic relationship the Netherlands and Surinam have had with each other for centuries; Starling's aluminium boat refers to the numerous sea shipments that have been exchanged between the Netherlands and Surinam. A transformation of energy will occur when Starling counterbalances Surinam's most import export product with the used boat battery.’ (Press release De Appel)