1. “Video aesthetics in the work of Berni Searle”- Delphine LOPEZ, dissertation for the first year
of master in History of Art, Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, June 2013 [Abstract]
Following the end of racial segregation (1994), identity politics have become the figurehead
of contemporary creation in South Africa. The “post-apartheid kids”, a new generation of artists
including Berni Searle (born in 1964 in Cape Town) were keen on achieving a typically South African
art. However, the entrance of South Africa on the international scene operated major changes in
the country’s orientation. On the art scene, contemporary artists turned from a national scale to an
international one polarised by more global stakes. On the other hand, increasing processes of
globalisation understood as the expansion of capitalistic logics to every aspect of life appears as
another threat for identity politics as defined in the 1990s. A new paradigm must be defined to
make justice to the richness of the artistic production of an artist such as Berni Searle. In order to
fully apprehend the originality of her works, a reflection on contemporary theory of intersectionality
as well as insights into materialist feminism will be developed. The use of video medium by the
artist will be precisely analysed as, through it, Berni Searle produces a complex vision of female
identity. Our reflection on the very properties of video, and its ambiguous relation with the logic of
capitalism will try to highlight the unfolding of a true aesthetics in which the viewer is a crucial
actor.
Home and Away, Berni Searle, 2003, video stills, double screen projection, 16mm shot, transferred
on SD card, 6min, colour and sound synchronised, commissioned for NMAC, Vejer, Spain,
Image from: M. Dewilde, B. Josse , M. Westen (eds), Berni Searle-Interlaced, (Culturecentrum
Brugge, Museum voor Moderne Kunst Arhem, Franc Loraine, 2011)
![“Video aesthetics in the work of Berni Searle”- Delphine LOPEZ, dissertation for the first year
of master in History of Art, Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, June 2013 [Abstract]
Following the end of racial segregation (1994), identity politics have become the figurehead
of contemporary creation in South Africa. The “post-apartheid kids”, a new generation of artists
including Berni Searle (born in 1964 in Cape Town) were keen on achieving a typically South African
art. However, the entrance of South Africa on the international scene operated major changes in
the country’s orientation. On the art scene, contemporary artists turned from a national scale to an
international one polarised by more global stakes. On the other hand, increasing processes of
globalisation understood as the expansion of capitalistic logics to every aspect of life appears as
another threat for identity politics as defined in the 1990s. A new paradigm must be defined to
make justice to the richness of the artistic production of an artist such as Berni Searle. In order to
fully apprehend the originality of her works, a reflection on contemporary theory of intersectionality
as well as insights into materialist feminism will be developed. The use of video medium by the
artist will be precisely analysed as, through it, Berni Searle produces a complex vision of female
identity. Our reflection on the very properties of video, and its ambiguous relation with the logic of
capitalism will try to highlight the unfolding of a true aesthetics in which the viewer is a crucial
actor.
Home and Away, Berni Searle, 2003, video stills, double screen projection, 16mm shot, transferred
on SD card, 6min, colour and sound synchronised, commissioned for NMAC, Vejer, Spain,
Image from: M. Dewilde, B. Josse , M. Westen (eds), Berni Searle-Interlaced, (Culturecentrum
Brugge, Museum voor Moderne Kunst Arhem, Franc Loraine, 2011)](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/612545c0-8689-4587-8ad9-6c38a3d5f05c-150423054118-conversion-gate02/85/Abstract-thesis-1-320.jpg)
