By Matthew Squire
This article presents the argument that the Dogme 95 cinema movement can be effectively repurposed to assist in the curation of exhibitions.
(The ideas of Debord apply)
1. Shooting must be done on location. Props and sets must not be brought in (if a particular prop is necessary for the story, a location must be chosen where this prop is to be found).
An exhibition must occur in its most simplistic form, with no information or outside influence on the art exhibited — the art itself must be the information. If an audience cannot extract meaning, then the meaning is not for them.
2. The sound must never be produced apart from the images or vice versa. (Music must not be used unless it occurs where the scene is being shot.)
If music is to be used, it must be produced live. To use reproduced music is to allow for consumerism (however little) to infiltrate the exhibition space, which must be free of such. Diegetic sound also allows for a greater meaning to be taken by the audience.
3. The camera must be hand-held. Any movement or immobility attainable in the hand is permitted.
Art has moved past the point of painting. To paint means to be immobile in a mobile age, and to do this means to be removed from action. Art must be kinetic, and engendering a thereby kinetic relationship with an audience allows for more meaning in art.
4. The film must be in colour. Special lighting is not acceptable. (If there is too little light for exposure the scene must be cut or a single lamp be attached to the camera.)
Again we must view painting as an outdated form of expression: in an age when artificial intelligence has overtaken the strength of Degas, we must question the power of even the post-impressionists in creating emotion for an audience. On this point, we must also discuss the role of traditional galleries in this proposed movement.
Art occurs for the enjoyment (or irritation) of the general public – a medium through which they can gain Instagram likes, or gain views on TikTok. The gallery model facilitates this through shameless promotion and capitalist intent. As previously stated, capitalism must be removed from art for true meaning to be created. For example, the Tate Modern is supported by billionaire art collectors who disguise themselves as patrons: its collections are committed to being exhibited at the will of a greed-driven individual. This is not without a resultant damage to the art’s meaning.
5. Optical work and filters are forbidden.
Whilst art can be seen as an escape from the grim reality of life, it must (as this manifesto posits) stay authentic and political to retain meaning in today’s world. Because of this, art must remain as true to real life as possible. Examples like Joseph Beuys’ Blackboards or protest art can be seen as effective pieces that need no augmentation.
6. The film must not contain superficial action. (Murders, weapons, etc. must not occur.)
Of all the rules in the Dogme manifesto, this is the only one which can be disagreed with, as art of the modern day can take forms not seen before, and in a weaponised society, weaponised art can (and in some cases must) take place. The Situationist International and its effect on the May ‘68 protests through the form of violent art disprove the argument that art must be void of superficial action. If an artist wishes to sacrifice themselves for art, this must be allowed to happen.
7. Temporal and geographical alienation are forbidden. (That is to say that the film takes place here and now.)
Art is current, art is now.
8. Genre movies are not acceptable.
We are at a point at which art has become generalised, and therefore genre must be transcended by art. We have reached a point similar to that of the French New Wave, and it may be perceived that ‘a certain tendency’ of art is being perpetuated once more: a familiar roundabout of mainstream art being produced. In short, it is time for change. The world is generalised, art cannot be too.
9. The director must not be credited.
Consumerism creates celebrity, and celebrity destroys art in its elevation of an individual above their work. The work is paramount as it is the work that carries meaning; the artist is merely a vessel of ideas, and therefore needs no accreditation.
In an exhibition, the viewer must be given the art without distraction: celebrity is a distraction from real life, and a distraction from real life allows for real life to be destroyed by others.
ART > ARTIST
ASIDE: STAR CURATORS
As is the case with celebrity artists, curators must also fall by the wayside when it comes to the importance of art in a modern society.
Whilst it could be argued that some artists exist as art themselves (Gilbert and George etc.), celebrity still undermines art, and to exist as a celebrity is a false existence.
EDIT:
An overarching rule that must apply to all exhibiting of art is that it must be in a constant state of flux, as the past does not exist anymore. Art must now exist in the present and in the future.
Static art does not matter.
Static art is past and not future. By this, we mean that the time in which static art had meaning is in the past.
In a constantly active society (for better or worse) art must be alive.
In a world in which we are condemned to a single model of humanity, we must establish a way of creating separate forms.
Museums are antiquity, galleries are unrelieved, and there must be a change in the established method.
All art must be alive, all art must be in Fluxus, all art must reflect humanity.
The time for oils and paints has passed, the time for action has arrived.
Image Credit: Caroline Tisdall, Joseph Beuys Coyote 2011, Large Glass.