‘die kunstbar’ opened its doors on November 14, injecting Köln’s inhabitants with new contemporary art. Arne Quinze is the first artist to exhibit his work in the art hotspot located in the heart of the city, under the steps of the Dome. He presents ‘EYE.C.U’, a unique and uncanny video-installation replacing the religious all-seeying-eye by a contemporary digital one.
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A NEW SUPRESSOR IN THE ANCIENT CITY - BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU.
The cathedral shews up the entire scenery, looking down over the entire city. A Dome referring to the catholic history of Köln, a Dome watching over the mass as the domineering replacer of God on earth. But church is an institution created by humankind to maintain power over the people…
Quinze introduces a new supressor in the ancient city: ‘EYE.C.U’. God played his role as church is getting obsolete as the one hierarchical ruler, yet people still undergo the power of a superior, as they feel the need of contemplation and seek for comfort. Already a new peremptory ruler overtook his place: the modern and female version of the all-seeying eye symbolizing the divinity of this godess observing humankind. “Yes, a woman, because why can’t god be a woman?” poses Quinze. This installation comprises fifty screens displaying close-ups of woman eyes with heavy black make-up. As her look is too intriguing and absorbing one is obliged to come across her presence. The new Godess constantly follows the tiniest details of movement of every by-passer granting them with a sinister and scary feeling. Although she never leaves you out of her sight, she inspires the mass emotionally. Big Brother is watching you. An adaptation of a panopticum watching the mass without them really noticing they’re held captive in the moral status of society.
Quinze dares the by-passers to look for the seven differences between the church and ‘EYE.C.U’. “But is this in fact possible?” Once you come to think of it, there aren’t many differences between the old religious predominance and the present dominion of the camera. The religious supressors in our society felt for centuries the necessity to keep the people under their skin. Control and steering of the mass are keywords to keep a group under control for a desired social order. Nowadays camera’s and digital technique superseded the church in an even more authoritative way. ‘EYE.C.U’ is the perfect symbolization of this process.
