Ideologica loop

Ideologica loop is focuses to dissect and reprocess the mechanisms and languages used by totalitarian structures, to reveal the atrocities behind war and just as propaganda tries to influence collective psychology by diffusing an artificial perception of reality, so in this installation offers us the almost domestic image of a photo in the wall, a radio with flashing red light, a mirror and a carpet. The image seems at first sight a familiar, serene representation of a normal sitting-room, but it actually hides a message of terror and persecution, inspired by the attack against music which all totalitarian regimes, both past and present, have had in common.

If we get closer to the photograph which, from a distance, resembles the weave of an oriental carpet, we discover that it has been composed of looped repetition of an image showing musical instruments burnt by Islamic State militants. The flashing red light transmits in Morse code the name of Ayham Hussein, a fifteen-year-old Iraqi boy executed for listening to western music. In the distance, confused with other noises (sounds from ISIS propaganda video), the radio broadcast Jazz music, the object of censure by the ‘30s Nazi regime. The mirror places viewer inside the installation, forcing them to choose whether to lower their head and take comfort in the reflection of an individual vanity, or to try and discover the reality beyond appearances.

Text by

Spela Zidar