Vladimir Turner
Exhibitions
Works
Dead Man
Vladimir Turner Dead Man
Copyright: Vladimir Turner
Date
2019
Dimensions
3:29 Min.
Material
Videoperformance
Description
In the video performance Dead Man, urban artist and activist Vladimir Turner enacts a striking ritual in an abandoned coal mine in Bytom, one of the most polluted places in Poland. Turner eats coal, spits it out, and then uses his coloured saliva to paint himself – an act that relates traditional shamanic practices to the real consumption of industrial resources. This almost meditative ritual questions the cynical game of poisoning, protest and purgation while urgently reminding us of our own involvement.
Frank Krämer
Mock up
Vladimir Turner neu KHV kompr
Copyright: Karl Heinrich Veith
Date
2024, in situ
Dimensions
Höhe 7 m
Material
Kunststoff, Solarpanels
Description
Czech artist Vladimir Turner’s inflatable mock-up of a nodding donkey oil pump has a prominent location at the foot of the inclined ore elevator at the Völklingen Ironworks. It proudly stands on the roof of a former control room – or, at least, it does so as long as the weather plays its part. This is because solar power is used to inflate the mock-up and make it move. In the absence of enough renewable energy, however, the system collapses – an allegory explicitly intended by the Prague-based artist. Our planet, he suggests, has now reached this point. Mock up also makes it clear that the transition from fossil fuels may entail certain sacrifices. At the same time, he sees the work as symbolic of the practice of greenwashing in politics and commerce. Turner’s activist art calls for an end to fossil-fuel capitalism and asks us to acknowledge the full consequences of such a commitment: “If we want a future, I fear that we will have to do without private motorised transport, which is a huge, unsustainable luxury.”
Daniel Bauer