Vertigo. Video Scenarios of Rapid Changes

The exhibition

Thirty-four video works examining how fast society is changing: in work and production, in trade and traffic, in behaviour, in communication, in the natural environment, in the social contract.

What medium could convey transformation, transition and the vertigo of constant change better than the moving image?

An unusual exhibition made only of videos of very different lengths, some lasting several hours, meant to be seen over more than one visit.

The six sections

Along the route, the “Intermezzi”: video installations commenting on current events and the state of the world.

Work and production processes
Trade and traffic
New behaviours
Communication
Natural environment
Social contract

Most of the time we feel dazed, insecure and lost: vertigo – in the broadest sense of uncertainty, clouding, lack of clarity and dizziness – has become the new normal.

Urs Stahel, curator

The artists

Lucy Beech, Will Benedict, Cao Fei, Chen Chieh-jen, Douwe Dijkstra, DIS, Simon Dybbroe Møller, Nina Fischer & Maroan el Sani, Melanie Gilligan, Simon Gush, Lauren Huret, Sven Johne, Kaya & Blank, Ali Kazma, Dominique Koch, Gabriela Löffel, Ariane Loze, Eva & Franco Mattes, Richard Mosse, Paulien Oltheten, Stefan Panhans & Andrea Winkler, Julika Rudelius, Pilvi Takala, Wang Bing, Anna Witt.

From the works on show

A river winds through a red and magenta forest, seen from above — Richard Mosse, Broken Spectre, 2022, film still · © Richard Mosse. Co-commissioned by the National Gallery of Victoria, VIA Art Fund, the Westridge Foundation and the Serpentine Galleries

A large orange inflatable figure on a conveyor belt in an automated warehouse — Cao Fei, Asia One, 2018, film still · © Cao Fei. Courtesy of the artist, Vitamin Creative Space and Sprüth Magers

Hands placing toy cars on a green belt against a green background — Douwe Dijkstra, Neighbour Abdi, 2022, film still · © Douwe Dijkstra and Richard Valk. Courtesy of Zen Movie

An adult and some children sitting in a circle, with overlaid drawings and the words time and money — DIS, Circle Time: What is Money? With Babak Radboy, 2018, film still · By DIS, courtesy of the artist

Two black-and-white cows in the rain, in close-up — Lucy Beech, Flush, 2023, film still · © Lucy Beech. Courtesy of the artist, Kunstinstituut Melly and Max Planck Institute for the History of Science

Coloured containers stacked under the cranes of a port at night — Kaya & Blank, Intermodal, 2023, film still · © Kaya & Blank, by SIAE 2024. Courtesy of the artists

People in work clothes in a changing room filled with mist — Simon Dybbroe Møller, What Do People Do All Day – The New Family, 2020–2022, film still · © Simon Dybbroe Møller. Courtesy of the artist and Francesca Minini, Milan

An empty office with desks and chairs, in black and white — Simon Gush, After Hours, 2013, film still · © Simon Gush and Stevenson, Cape Town, Johannesburg and Amsterdam

A lit skyscraper isolated against a black background — Lauren Huret, Praying for my haters, 2019, film still · © Lauren Huret, co-production CCS Paris & Pro Helvetia, 2019. Courtesy of the artist

Hands holding a pufferfish with the words Do you see the problem? — Will Benedict, All Bleeding Stops Eventually, 2019, film still · © Will Benedict. Courtesy of the artist, DIS.ART and TBA21

Videos

Tours, families, schools

Vertigo Highlights

From 2 April to 14 July 2024, short free guided tours with booking, each week devoted to one section of the exhibition: Tuesday to Friday at 5 pm, Saturdays and Sundays at 11 am. 30 minutes, in Italian, up to 25 people; afterwards visitors could stay on and watch the videos.

Richard Mosse special

A 40-minute tour of the Natural environment section and a full screening of Broken Spectre (74’) in Gallery 0: Wednesdays at 5.30 pm, Saturdays and Sundays at 4.30 pm.

Richard Mosse at MAST in 2021: Displaced

Family Tour Day

“Immagini in movimento” (Moving images): from 10 March 2024, every Sunday, a tour, a workshop and a screening inspired by the videos in the show, for children aged 7 to 12; then a snack at MAST.Caffetteria and a film from the Future Film Kids series in MAST.Auditorium.

Education: families

For schools

Tuesday to Friday, 10 am – 12 noon: one hour visiting the technology Gallery and the exhibition, one hour of workshop on moving images.

Primary
Stories in motion: an animated flip book.

Lower secondary
The skies are emptying; Soundscapes.

Upper secondary
Praying for My Haters; Soundscapes; Broken Spectre, with a full screening of the film and a discussion.

Education: schools

VertigoVideo Scenarios of Rapid Changes

Vertigo
Video Scenarios of Rapid Changes