Furtive, Quiet and Loud
Art and communication practices to deconstruct social codes in the realm of media activism
Mediation and reception of the project Österreichische Nachrichten
While distributing the newspapers in the underground stations I talked with many passersby who asked about the editors of the Österreichische Nachrichten and if the articles reported on “real facts.”
The reception of the project was positive. Several reviews were published in quality newspapers, such as Der Standard and Die Presse, and thousands of people visited the website “Austrian News,” posting hundreds of comments in just a few weeks after distribution of the Österreichische Nachrichten. Most comments were positive, however, some articles were strongly criticized, because they were — according to some Readers — beyond the limits of good taste or political correctness. Moreover, in June 2012 the Federal Department of Education, Science and Culture forbade me from distributing my newspaper inside their facilities.
On the one hand, these negative comments and reactions made me think about a problematic aspect of my project, namely, the danger of reproducing discriminatory talk in the attempt to criticize it by the use of satire. On the other hand, these critiques missed the point: I was clearly intending to be satirical, and this fact was very well explained in the publication details (Impressum).
Project Männer (Men)
Figure 2: Project „Männer“
Figure 3: Project „Männer“
This poster installation took place in October 2011 and was placed in a masculine-connoted location in Resselpark, Vienna. Homeless men go there to drink and a police station is very close, because it has commonly been used as a place for selling drugs. The project was part of a two-year project financed by the Viennese cultural association SOHO in Ottakring, which consisted of conferences and actions in public space.*7 *(7) The idea was to break typical role-models related to masculinity and motherhood in a country where women are still overwhelmingly responsible for raising the children and taking care of the household, and still are earning far less money than their male counterparts.*8 *(8)
I will now offer a few quotes from articles in the press describing the project:
Those pedestrians whose daily path leads to the underground near Vienna’s Resselpark will be confronted with posters by the artist Hansel Sato. Sato’s posters present a critical argument relating to the representation of men in the mass media, and respond to the incessant repetition of gender-stereotyping of the inconspicuous life of a man. On the other hand, the posters aim to address people who have no experience in dealing with the topic of gender. For attaining this goal, popular public places are used as a display. “Men” is organized within the framework of the art festival Soho in Ottakring and is a part of the “Regendering Media” Project. (Der Standard 2012)
(*12)
At first glance one believes that the pictures on the posters … show a breast-feeding man. In the pictures, a roughly thirty-year-old man is seen wearing casual clothes, and sporting a dark beard, sitting on the edge of a bed with flowery bedding, holding a small child in his arms. Each poster has a different slogan in connection with the subject, thus causing a stir. (Heute 2012) (*13)
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www.derstandard.at (Last visited: January 3, 2014)
www.heute.at (Last visited: January 3, 2014)
http://www.augustin.or.at (Last visited: January 3, 2014)
http://www.austrianposters.at (Last visited: January 3, 2014)
http://www.orf.at (Last visited: January 3, 2014)
Der Standard (2012): Männer einmal anders. http://diestandard.at/1317019799614/Regendering-Media-Maenner-einmal-anders, date: October 10, 2012. last visited: January 3, 2014 – translated by author
Heute (2012): Was bedeuten diese Bilder am Karlsplatz? http://www.heute.at/news/oesterreich/wien/art23652,610008, October 11, 2012, last visited: January 3, 2014 – translated by author
Hansel Sato ( 2014): Furtive, Quiet and Loud. Art and communication practices to deconstruct social codes in the realm of media activism. In: p/art/icipate – Kultur aktiv gestalten # 04 , https://www.p-art-icipate.net/furtive-quiet-and-loud/
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