RURAL TECHNOLOGY

We are pleased to present the exhibition RURAL TECHNOLOGY by artist and filmmaker Mario Pfeifer at PYLON-Lab which will be on view until May 18th.

What does an indigenous community have in common with rappers in New York? What does the hunting of Yaghan people in the southern most urban environment on this planet share with the workshops of Defense Distributed in Austin, Texas (US)? How are the rights of self-determination, freedom of speech and the right to defend yourself become twisted in a digitized world?

Pfeifer’s work is based on the research of social-political backgrounds in specific cultural situations from Mumbai to São Paulo. He explores representational structures and conventions in the medium of film, resulting in multi-layered video works that cumulate both filmic and political, cross-cultural and historical references.

For his solo exhibition at PYLON-Lab, Pfeifer will exhibit the two multi-channel video installations – Approximation (2014/15) and #blacktivist (2015) – as well as soundtracks that include a reflection of Pfeifer’s approach on how technology can inflict or even conflict identity, culture and the course of their power at the same time.

Mario Pfeifer (*1981, Dresden) studied in Leipzig (HGB) and Berlin (UDK) and graduated from Willem de Rooij’s class at Städelschule Frankfurt am Main in 2008. He was a Fulbright fellow in Los Angeles (California Institute of the Arts) in artist in residence at ISCP New York, Gasworks London and Cité Internationales des Arts in Paris. He has had solo exhibitions at institutions including Kunstsammlungen Chemnitz, Germany (2018), Museum of Contemporary Art Leipzig – GfZK (2016); Ludlow38 New York (2015), Fotomuseum Winterthur, Switzerland (2015); and Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Santiago de Chile (2014). His work was shown at Berlin Biennale (2018), Mercosul Biennale (2017), Montevideo Biennale (2016) and has been part of group exhibitions at venues including CCA – Center of Contemporary Art Lagos, Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, Museum of Art and Technology, Lisbon and MMK Museum für Moderne Kunst Frankfurt am Main. Pfeifer is represented by KOW.

An additional screening of Pfeifer’s video work “Corporatists Fechado” (2016) will take place at the closing event of the exhibition on May 18th. Please see link below.

The exhibition is kindly supported by Kulturstiftung des Freistaates Sachsen.