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Brooklyn is Watching » Blog Archive » Injustice, 2008 by Arahan Claveau

I’m struggling mightily over what to say about this work by Arahan Claveau, not because I have a lack of things to say about it, but because I know that the format of art-blog writing demands that I keep the article relatively brief and breezy. Arguably, that approach isn’t good for talking about anyone’s work, but necessity dictates it; in this case, reducing the work that deals with life and death issues to such a quick discussion seems insulting. (I had this same problem with “I’m Sorry, Dad” from a few days ago.)

So, I’m stuck. I can’t discuss the piece fully, so I won’t try. Instead, I would like to focus on a few specific ideas that I have surrounding it and hopefully open it up to a larger discussion from there.

In this piece, we are presented with a call to arms: At what appears to be the tail end of a party (ok, can I be forgiven for immediately thinking of the last days of the Hillary Clinton campaign?), all that remains are the party favors and a rather threatening looking noose. Further investigation reveals notecards that talk about some gay teenagers being killed for being gay in Iran, as well as other information about the status of gays in other countries. Suddenly, the meaning of the pink balloons is obvious – the party that has ended is some sort of feel-good, let’s-be-happy! celebration somewhere far away from a place like Iran, someplace where the participants find it easy to forget about what’s happening in the rest of the world (which is to say, someplace like NYC or LA or London or such).

This is where my mind starts swirling and I want to talk about a million things

Immediately I am reminded of the work of David Wojnarowicz, easily one of my favorite artists. Wojnarowicz was the first artist I saw dealing explicitly with the AIDS crisis (and other issues too – which gets forgotten). There was this incredible energy in NYC among artists working in the 1980s and into the 1990s – a rabble-rousing, trouble-making energy of a group of people who had something to say. They were screaming their messages from the rooftops and shaking people on the street and probably spitting in some faces as well – such was the urgency of that time. The energy was infectious; as a kid, I remember growing up around it and falling in love with it. And then something happened, and like Hunter S. Thompson’s beautiful passage in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, we hit the high water mark and the tide started receding.  The anger and the urgency got pissed away, and before you knew it, it was if that time had never happened at all. Goodbye SILENCE = DEATH, hello Queer Eye. (Funny thing is, the same thing happened with women and feminism.)

It’s refreshing for me to see a work like this, one that taps into that anger that must still be out there, just below the surface. And in a world like SL where people go so far out of their way to avoid reality at all costs, it’s wonderful to see a work that acknowledges not only the real world, but the parts of the real world we often want to forget about. SL offers us this promise of a utopia where race, gender, sexual orientation, and all those other pesky things don’t matter, but it’s nothing but a very temporary balm.

“Socially responsible” sims like Virtual Darfur often fail because they try and capture the “realism” of whatever situation they’re portraying and, of course, fall short. What’s nice about Injustice is that Arahan keeps his engagement brief and to the point – there’s nothing but balloons, a noose, and some notecards – and stays away from any kind of “realism.” The one touch of realism that I wish this piece had was that I would prefer the balloons to have some sort of weight to them, but this is a minor note. I do like that they are starting to trail all over the sim.

I have to end it there, although I could easily go on for days. It’s late and I have to work tomorrow. I’ll end on this: This piece is obviously touches on some things very near and dear to my heart, so I admit that I wasn’t the most unbiased critic to try and approach it. For that I apologize – but I did try my best. But most of all, I think putting a piece like this in an environment so openly hostile to politics, discussions of the real world, and anything controversial was a ballsy, brave thing to do, no matter how you look at it.

10 Responses to “Injustice, 2008 by Arahan Claveau”

“Goodbye SILENCE = DEATH, hello Queer Eye” – exactlty; Furthermore it seems to me that we, in the western world, are seeing a return of sanctimonious values, which is highly puzzling as our pop culture seems to evolve in pornographic direction.

Of course it’s up to anyone what they choose to ignore or care about, but stories like this one from March ‘08 does suggest that it’s not just in strange and complex places like Iran that there’s something terribly wrong. Party over.

I think the simplicity serves the piece well, it doesn’t come of as abusive in spite of the story behind it being so emotional. It’s simply there.

Finally I’ve been wondering where exactly it is people leave their minds before logging in to experience this immaculate virtual paradise completely removed from anything that relates to our being.

I think what Arahan is trying to achieve with this is most sympathetic, and now we’re even talking about it here.

You know, I wrote that in the middle of the night and I had a paragraph in it that I wanted to think about before posting (I took it out to be on the safe side). So here I am in the cold light of day, and it’s still haunting me… so, in brief:

I would love to issue a challenge to the artist. Given how many (shall we say) “make-believe queers” there are in SL (straight people pretending to be gay, vice versa, for whatever reason), I would love to see an artwork that confronts this. Something that really asks why the hell so many people do this, what they get out of it, what they’re avoiding in their RL, and the way in which SL allows them to avoid responsibility for their desires/dreams/fantasies.

Anyway. Just putting it out there.

Amy gets at the fundamental core of why it’s so crucial to confront these issues. Just look around at what’s going on in the world, how we are increasingly hypnotised by gadgets and glamour and in the process have become pacified and subdued, incapable or unwilling to see the ugly truth. Second Life is a reflection of that but even more homogenised and sanitised, its residents often even more desperate to escape reality and pretend everything is just fine.

Amy mentioned a recent era where individuals were more committed and determined to affect a tangible change and bring attention to very real and often uncomfortable issues. From my perspective I don’t think I could ever stop being angry or indifferent to injustice and suffering and I feel a duty to play a part, however small, in bringing attention to certain issues. It is possible to do this in so many ways, including artistic statements that force people to confront subjects they might be oblivious to. If you’re an artist and you never do that, you’re just irresponsible.

This piece I have left at Brooklyn is Watching was originally part of larger installations and was much more of an attack on complacent ‘queer eye’ types. In a nutshell it was saying “listen faggots, there is no equality, we are never going to be accepted by mainstream society so stop pretending. We are being beaten, tortured, murdered and executed every fucking day, get off your arses and fight back now!”

When it comes to fighting for our lives there should be no compromise and this of course doesn’t just apply to homosexuals.

This piece if personal but it is not about me, I am not important in this. But, if it successfully manages to get the point across to even just a few people and that spreads then it will be worth the effort.

Ichibot, thank you for that link to the Dutch story, it is becoming more and more commonplace and acceptable for governments and authorities to deny people basic human rights.

Amy and Ichi, I’m really grateful for your interest and enthusiasm for ‘Injustice’.
I tried to keep it simple yet informative and it went through quite a few incarnations until I was satisfied, so I’m glad you think it is effective. I hope others do too.

*I accept your challenge Amy and will think about what I can do. It might take a while because new ideas don’t come so easily to me but I’ll see what evolves.

I just left a ’super fun happy hud vendor’ close to the entrance, look for the ostrich burying its head and touch it for a note and wearable hud. It seems once again relevant as the note explains –

“Whenever you are confronted by something that you’d rather not see this handy HUD made by Nebulosus Severine will allow you to retreat into a super fun happy world of blissful ignorance.”

I wish you could edit posts here because I noticed a stupid typo I made above – “This piece if personal but it is not about me”, should of course read “This piece IS personal”.

A little while back, Arahan put this work up at BiW for the first time, but it was quickly overshadowed (literally) by a large installation by Juria. Now it’s back, and in a place of honor right in the middle of the stage, which I think is just right for a work with such an important statement to make.

To those checking it out: make sure to get the notecard from the giver — the one owned by Arahan — labeled “TOUCH touch” on the right front of the stage. Tsui Yamabuchi has placed a visually similar notecard giver on the left front, but it doesn’t actually contain any notecards and thus doesn’t give anything out. And kick around the balloons if you like; they started out near the stage, but many have been scattered by the movements of avatars at BiW.

When I first saw Injustice I expressed regret that I had not been able to post properly about it and promised to do it later, but Amy beat me to it. I’m a little bit puzzled by her photo, in that the picture that appears to be on the floor does not seem to be present tonight.

For me the juxtaposition of the stark message of Injustice with the “super happy fun balloons” and the “super happy fun HUD” is where the real tension of this work comes from. By placing these things together, Arahan has shown us how easily people ignore the hard facts about injustice.

Hi Shirley,

Thanks for writing about ‘Injustice’ last week and again today. The notecard dispenser on the left was broken for some reason, I’ve just fixed it. The notecard inside is really important and contains the story about two Iranian boys who were hung for the “crime” of homosexuality.

I include a copy of it below in case anyone missed it.

Also, the image under the gallows in Amy’s snapshot was of the Knight of Hohenberg and his servant, accused sodomites, being executed by burning before the walls of Zürich in 1482. I used this to illustrate the fact that it is still happening now and nothing has changed. I decided to remove it though because I wanted the message to be as simple to understand as possible and thought this might confuse things.

Anyway, I am very happy that everyone seems to get it and appreciate the comments.

___________________

Two gay teenagers were publicly executed in Iran on 19 July 2005 for the ‘crime’ of homosexuality. The youths were hanged in Edalat (Justice) Square in the city of Mashhad, in north east Iran. They were sentenced to death by Court No. 19. Iran enforces Islamic Sharia law, which dictates the death penalty for gay sex. One youth was aged 18 and the other was a minor under the age of 18. They were only identified by their initials, M.A. and A.M.

They admitted – probably under torture, London – based gay human rights group Outrage! suggests – to having gay sex but claimed in their defence that most young boys had sex with each other and that they were not aware that homosexuality was punishable by death.

Prior to their execution, the teenagers were held in prison for 14 months and severely beaten with 228 lashes. Their length of detention suggests that they committed the so-called offences more than a year earlier, when they were possibly around the age of 16.

Ruhollah Rezazadeh, the lawyer of the youngest boy (under 18), had appealed that he was too young to be executed and that the court should take into account his young age (believed to be 16 or 17). But the Supreme Court in Tehran ordered him to be hanged.

Under the Iranian penal code, girls as young as nine and boys as young as 15 can be hanged. Three other young gay Iranians are being hunted by the police, but they have gone into hiding and cannot be found. If caught, they will also face execution.

News of the two executions was reported by ISNA (Iranian Students News Agency) on 19 July. A later news story by Iran In Focus, allegedly based on this original ISNA report, claimed the youths were executed for sexually assaulting a 13 year old boy. But the ISNA report does not mention any sexual assault. A report of the executions on the website of the respected democratic opposition movement, The National Council of Resistance Of Iran, also makes no reference to a sexual assault.

The allegation of sexual assault may either be a trumped up charge to undermine public sympathy for the youths, a frequent tactic by the Islamist regime in Iran. Or, Outrage! suggests, it may be that the 13 year old was a willing participant but that Iranian law (like UK law) deems that no person of that age is capable of sexual consent and that therefore any sexual contact is automatically deemed in law to be a sex assault.

If the 13 year old was sexually assaulted, why was he not identified and also put on trial (under Iranian law both the victims and perpetrators of sexual crimes are punished)?

Full story in Persian from ISNA, with three photographs can be seen at http://isna.ir/Main/NewsView.aspx?ID=News-556874

“This is just the latest barbarity by the Islamo-fascists in Iran,” said Peter Tatchell of the London-based gay human rights group OutRage! “The entire country is a gigantic prison, with Islamic rule sustained by detention without trial, torture and state-sanctioned murder.”

According to Iranian human rights campaigners, over 4,000 lesbians and gay men have been executed since the Ayatollahs seized power in 1979.

Altogether, an estimated 100,000 Iranians have been put to death over the last 26 years of clerical rule. The victims include women who have sex outside of marriage and political opponents of the Islamist government.

Last August, a 16 year old girl, Atefeh Rajabi, was hanged for “acts incompatible with chasity.”

“Britain’s Labour government is pursuing friendly relations with this murderous regime, including aid and trade. We urge the international community to treat Iran as a pariah state, break off diplomatic relations, impose trade sanctions and give practical support to the democratic and left opposition inside Iran,” said Tatchell.

Outrage! Is calling for world-wide urgent action and asks that you protest to the Iranian Ambassador at the Embassy in your country. In addition, Outrage! asks that you also press your government to take urgent action against Iran.

Last week in Nigeria, Yusuf Kabir (40) and 18-year-old Usman Sani appeared before Judge Mustapha Sani Saulawa at Katsina’s Sharia Court Number Three charged with committing sodomy. The hearing was adjourned until early August. If convicted, the pair could face death by stoning.

Earlier this month, Reuters reported from Nigeria that a 50 years-old man had been sentenced to death by stoning after admitting to a judge that he had had homosexual sex. This was immediately after the court had found him not guilty of having sex with a teenage boy.

*source > http://www.ukgaynews.org.uk/Archive/2005july/2101.htm

[...] Brooklyn is watching [...]

According to Iranian human rights campaigners, over 4,000 lesbians and gay men have been executed since the Ayatollahs seized power in 1979.

Protest to the Iranian Ambassador:

info@iran-embassy.org.uk

Tel: 020 7225 3000
Fax: 020 7589 4440

Iranian Ambassador
Embassy of Iran
16 Prince’s Gate
London SW7 1PT

If you live outside the UK, protest to the Iranian Embassy in your country, and press your government to break off diplomatic relations and impose trade sanctions against Iran.
___________

‘Injustice’ can be seen on level one of the Arthole gallery. Details and SLurl here.

[...] pesky things don’t matter, but it’s nothing but a very temporary balm.” Amy Freelunch [1] “Since 9/11, I have become increasingly chicken-livered about topics that make me feel pain [...]

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