Das Museum, virtuelle Räume, Systemfehler und verlorene Welten

Sondra Perrys Videoinstallation IT’S IN THE GAME ’17 (2017)

Abstract

On the one hand museums use video, new media and the production of elaborate feature films as marketing tools to assert their international status as guardians of cultural heritage and to highlight the importance of their collections. On the other, the institutions’ desire for increased attention gives artists and filmmakers the opportunity to make historical and otherwise static objects subjects of complex filmic, narrative and dynamic structures. “Joint ventures” between museums and video artists and filmmakers furthermore allow the latter to engage critically with the museum’s collection and to question its politics. At times, however, their critical perspective comes to fruition in such a poignant way that their works appear to be more an intervention in museums to address and change existing politics of collecting practices and display. Chris Marker and Alain Resnais’ Les statues meurent aussi (1953) is a paradigmatic example of this, which also serves as an important reference for Sondra Perry and her more recent video installation IT’S IN THE GAME ’17 (2017) – the main object of study of this text.