Synopsis:
Celebrated artist Barbara Kruger uses the visual language of advertising to critique the very messages her artwork emulates. Her work asks viewers to closely consider how global issues like consumerism and gender discrimination play a powerful role in their daily lives. “Something to really think about is what makes us who we are in the world that we live in,” says the artist. “And how culture constructs and contains us.” This documentary short traces Barbara’s 40+ year career from her start as a designer at Condé Nast to a recent outdoor public art project in a Lower East Side, Manhattan skatepark. “Money talks. Whose values?” says Kruger, quoting some of the panels installed in the skatepark. “These are just ideas in the air and questions that we ask sometimes—and questions that we don’t ask but should ask.” Featuring Untitled (Skate), a Performa commission for the Performa 17 Biennial installed at the Coleman Square Playground in New York City; works from the artist’s multiple solo exhibitions at Mary Boone Gallery; and FOREVER, a 2017 site-specific exhibition at Sprüth Magers Berlin, amongst others.
Country:
United States
Directed by:
Ian Forster