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Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) presents 9 Scripts from a Nation at War

The Museum of Modern Art, New York (MoMA) presents 9 Scripts from a Nation at War, a collaboration by Andrea Geyer, Sharon Hayes, Ashley Hunt, Katya Sander, and David Thorne, on view through August 6, 2012 in The The Yoshiko and Akio Morita Gallery.

In wartime, as public opinion is carefully molded by governments, mass media, and political parties, artists can create spaces that allow for speech, performance, critical thinking, and responses that are otherwise not permitted. 9 Scripts from a Nation at War (2007) responds to conditions and questions that have arisen since the invasion of Iraq by United States military forces in March 2003. The installation was created between 2004 and 2007 as a collaborative project for documenta 12.

The work is structured around the roles, created by war, that individuals fill, enact, speak from, or resist.

Displayed as projections and at seated viewing stations in a non-narrative structure, each of the 10 videos shows a different perspective on the involvement of U.S. troops in global war zones—represented by the roles of citizen, blogger, correspondent, veteran, student, actor, interviewer, lawyer, detainee, and source. Using both documentary and constructed footage, the scripts are performed by actors and non-actors: some speak their own words, and some recite the words of others. The extensive archive of video performances addresses the implications of war for individual and collective experience and the role of language in structures of power during times of conflict.

Andrea Geyer (German, b. 1971), Sharon Hayes (American, b. 1970), Ashley Hunt (American, b. 1970), Katya Sander (Danish, b. 1970), and David Thorne (American, b. 1960) have collaborated in several multidisciplinary formats over the last decade. Portions of the presented videos were shot during a Vera List Center Fellowship. The production of the work was supported by the Vera List Center for Art and Politics at The New School, New York.

Organized by Sabine Breitwieser, Chief Curator, with Martin Hartung, Curatorial Assistant, Department of Media and Performance Art, The Museum of Modern Art.

Museum of Modern Art (MoMA)
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New York, NY 10019
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