NORWEGIAN CODE
Norwegian Code (2014 - Winner of prize for the most outstanding audio-visual piece - Østlandsutstillingen 2015)
Video (color, sound), 5’53 min.
Shwan Dler Qaradaki’s video piece is simple and straightforward in its presentation of a complex issue. In terms of genre, the video echoes informational films, albeit with a sprinkling of webcam aesthetics and TV-humour. The easiness of style accommodates a thought-provoking round of stereotypes. Here, the traditionally-patterned knitted cardigan, glass-fibre wallpaper and a sign-language interpreter inset in the corner of the TV-screen supplement readily familiar characteristics of Norwegian social behaviour. The humorous aspect of the piece is well-salted, however, with a pretty clear dose of anger as the artist addresses his “new countrymen” with a handful of succinct facts concerning the Norwegian temperament and day-to-day culture. He confidently elevates himself as a representative of the hegemonic culture but in such a way that ‘Norwegian-ness’ is given a comic tone. The artist has, moreover, provided the Norwegian language with a new word: “inward-positivity”.
Norwegian Code (2014 - Winner of prize for the most outstanding audio-visual piece - Østlandsutstillingen 2015)
Video (color, sound), 5’53 min.
Shwan Dler Qaradaki’s video piece is simple and straightforward in its presentation of a complex issue. In terms of genre, the video echoes informational films, albeit with a sprinkling of webcam aesthetics and TV-humour. The easiness of style accommodates a thought-provoking round of stereotypes. Here, the traditionally-patterned knitted cardigan, glass-fibre wallpaper and a sign-language interpreter inset in the corner of the TV-screen supplement readily familiar characteristics of Norwegian social behaviour. The humorous aspect of the piece is well-salted, however, with a pretty clear dose of anger as the artist addresses his “new countrymen” with a handful of succinct facts concerning the Norwegian temperament and day-to-day culture. He confidently elevates himself as a representative of the hegemonic culture but in such a way that ‘Norwegian-ness’ is given a comic tone. The artist has, moreover, provided the Norwegian language with a new word: “inward-positivity”.
