Romantic Conceptualism
Satire, when successful, is not an end point, it is a scalpel with which one dissects a complex conceit, a way to see behind a veil of artifice. Scot Cotterell’s new work, Romantic Conceptualism has some qualities akin to satire, and it is certainly a work that asks more questions than it answers; but this open ended nature is where its success lies.
In a darkened room at Contemporary Art Tasmania an audience encounters looping video projected around a space punctuated by still images. Footage, such as a man made up to look like some kind of horned demon, his voice lowered to an ‘evil’ pitch, leaps about in a lounge room in bad light repeating the phrase ‘romantic conceptualism’. A crass digitally constructed wave that embodies everything that became ridiculous about CD-ROMs by 1998 throws up some glowing words: ‘romantic conceptualism’. A heavily tattooed woman smokes a large cigarette and eventually speaks: ‘romantic conceptualism’.
Jarring and bordering on discordant, the videos reveal some people completely disengaged with their activity, others seem almost amused, as if in on the process and what was being slowly turned over and examined. What brings them together, beyond their use of the phrase ‘romantic conceptualism’, is their method of creation: everything was outsourced from Fiverr.com. Fiverr.com seems like an idea a group of design undergraduates followed through after too much coffee somewhere, but it’s real: there is a vast selection of skilled persons, who offer a range of services for a base rate of five dollars US. This is a one sentence idea, which seems ridiculous, but it works. It was established in 2009. In 2015 there are 1.3 million services offered, there is
Scott Cotterell, Romantic Conceptualism, 2014. Photograph Courtesty of the artist and Contemporary Art Tasmania.
Video still; Scott Cotterell, Romantic Conceptualism, 2014. Photograph courtesy of the artist and Contemporary Art Tasmania.
