Information
Technology
Hardware
2 x PC Pentium 1.2Gig computer 1 x Ethernet board
1 x Matrox-Meteor RGB framegrabber board
1 x SICK 2D-laserscanner
1 x MPEG II Decoder boards + spare
1 x Monitor/Video switcher
1 x S-video amplifier
2 x Sony vpl px 31 projectors
2 x Sony zm 31 lenses
1 x denon pma 535r amplifier
8 x jbl control 10 stereo speakers
1x Magnat Sub 25 Aktiv Motion subwoofer
2 x 10m S-video cables (Computer-Projector)
1 x RCA to RCA cables (Computer-Amplifier)
Software
SICK laserscanner interface, flow control, MPEG2 video player interface, modification of MPEG2 decoder driver
to allow remote control
Descriptions & Essays
The multi-media project Cross Currents is the third part in the Yugoslavian War trilogy with Pietà (Neue Galerie, Graz, 1996, produced in collaboration with scenario URBANO) and Motel Vilina Vlas (Sprengel Museum, Hanover, 1996) forming the second and third parts respectively. Like its predecessors, Cross Currents is based on historical events surrounding the conflicts in Former Yugoslavia, events which placed a spotlight on the sexual dimension of the war. Although passed over in the general coverage of the hostilities, these events involving genocide, rape camps and sexual slavery are in many ways defining symbols of a war which consciously used sex as a cultural and military weapon.
While Pietà and Motel Vilina Vlas respectively investigate the genocide and rape camps directly associated with the course of the war, Cross Currents looks at its aftermath through a narrative dealing with the relationship between a young mail-order bride who has fled from Croatia and the Serbian bodyguard hired to protect her after she is forced into prostitution in Berlin. This plot conjures up the world of the refugee in flight from the war. In a broader sense, by interrogating this slave trade operating within the prostitution industry, Cross Currents presents an outline of the fundamental intertwining of male and female sexuality within prostitution, one of the institutional heartlands of contemporary western society.
The project exists in three different versions: an interactive installation, a video installation, and a CD-ROM .
(Dennis Del Favero)
Literature
Papastergiadis, Nikos. »No Way Home.« In Cross Currents, edited by ZKMVol.2. ZKM Digital Arts Edition, . Ostfildern-Ruit: Hatje Cantz, 1999.
Pierce, John. »Cross Currents.« Independent Filmmakers (November 1999).
Shaw, Jeffrey. »Editorial.« In Dennis Del Favero: Cross Currents - ZKM Digital Arts Edition 2, edited by ZKM Karslruhe and Neue Galerie Graz am Landesmuseum JoanneumZKM Digital Arts Edition, . Ostfildern-Ruit: Hatje Cantz, 1999.
Steinle, Christa and Peter Weibel. »Political Intersections.« In Dennis Del Favero: Cross Currents - ZKM Digital Arts Edition 2, edited by ZKM KarlsruheVol.2. Zkm digital arts edition, . Ostfildern-Ruit: Hatje Cantz, 1999.
Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie (ZKM), Karlsruhe, ed. Dennis del Favero: Cross Currents. ZKM Digital Arts Edition 2. Vol.2. ZKM Digital Arts Edition, Ostfildern-Ruit th ed.: Hatje Cantz, 1999.
Exhibitions & Events