The Ludwig Museum – Museum of Contemporary Art, as a continuation of its residency-program series started in the previous years, provided the opportunity during Autumn 2017 for two resident artists to spend one month in Budapest. During the program’s length, Gentian Shkurti from Albania and Romi Avidan from Israel, besides encountering the local artistic scene, had the possibility to prepare a site-specific project work.
“It seems like the transmitted values and what is of importance in works of art, in the times we live in, are being reduced into monetary assets, that an artist obtains through his / her brand. It seems like the price of a work has been converted into an ‘aura’ (if we could refer to Walter Benjamin in this case). Provided we could dismantle that kind of ‘aura’, what would remain of a painting, which until today is conveying something different for humanity than a view and a piece of painted fabric? An art museum is a space where authentic and unique works are preserved in order to transmit to generations what is / was happening to it (art) in a certain time and place. Video Surveillance is a project that attempts to emphasize the core and essence of a museum or a museum collection. What should a museum preserve, in order for future generations to inherit? A few incredibly pricey painted fabrics, or should it preserve values that can’t even be physically captured by any surveillance camera?
Video Surveillance is the presentation in the form of a broadcasting through a panel including three surveillance monitors what microscopic cameras see of / preserve in some landmark pieces of Art History, pieces that are also part of the Ludwig Museum collection in Budapest. It is the artist’s choice that the work should be exhibited inside the museum but visible solely outside of it.” Gentian Shkurti
