Review | The Center for Tacti...

Generated on 2020-10-26 15:05:58

Result #1

The Center for Tactical Magic also offers a model for how to start a new art institution. The Center for Tactical Magic is an academic institution, the institutions principal is to be a community of artists and educators, and its mission is to operate as a space of collaboration and confrontation, a place where the social can come together to address the problem of power in our times. The CTM offers an alternative to the administrative, bureaucratic, and ideological imperatives of the university. The Center for Tactical Magic is a place for transformative and democratic action, for transforming the world.

Result #2

The artists and their agents are not in the least concerned with the pretense of political activism. At the same time, they are often passionate and energetic supporters of the tactical revolution in all its forms.In the end, the artistic agenda of the CTM is the same as that of a political party. We are committed to creating a world in which we can live in a way that is true to our nature, to our needs, and to our values, and to which we can participate. The CTM embraces both the pragmatic and the aesthetic aspects of the creative act, and the two are interwoven with the creation of a community. The work of the community and of individuals has always been a matter of mutual trust and responsibility. The pragmatic element of the work of art is recognized as part of the ethical, political, and social responsibility of the individual, and the aesthetic of art is a means of furthering that recognition. The tactical action of the artists and their agents can be seen as a reflection on the fact that the world is a world of mutual trust, a world where individuals are in a position to make choices and actions. The artistic process is an activity in which each individual is active and responsible, and the work of art is a means of informing the decisions and actions of the community. The CTM is a voice of a collective that proclaims the presence of the individual and the community, which is a reality with which we can live together, in a world where we can all become part of the creative potential of a common cause.

Result #3

The Center for Tactical Magic engages in extensive research, development, and deployment of the pragmatic system known as Tactical Magic. A fusion force summoned from the ways of the artist, the magician, the ninja, and the private investigator, Tactical Magic is an amalgam of disparate arts invoked for the purpose of actively addressing Power on individual, communal, and transnational fronts. At the CTM we are committed to achieving the Great Work of Tactical Magic through community-based projects, daily interdiction, and the activation of latent energies toward positive social transformation.At CTM, the exhibition opened with an installation of the artists work, Demonstrating the Path of the Secret, 1988, and a video projection, The Man Who Killed His Father, 1995. Demonstrating the Path of the Secret is a series of drawings, paintings, and collages that demonstrate the existence of a non-verbal, non-verbal, non-verbal language that can be used to communicate with any human being. In addition to a series of drawings, the video shows the artists journey toward the mystery of the original, the ghost of the dead father. He stops off at the local store and, after purchasing a piece of silver, has a pistol and a stack of papers in his hand. He walks slowly to the register and starts to sign, and stops, and again signs. He walks from the register to the video, where he signs a blank piece of paper and a few more papers, and finally has a pistol in his hand. He stands in the same spot for a long time, looking at the video, and finally shoots the stack of papers. He stands and signs, but does not shoot. He signs again. He stands and signs again. He stands and signs again. He signs again. He signs again. He signs again. He signs again. He signs again. He signs again. He signs again. He signs again. He signs again. He signs again. He signs again. He signs again. He signs again. He signs again. He signs again. He signs again. He signs again. He signs again. He signs again. He signs again. He signs again. He signs again. He signs again. He signs again. He signs again. He signs again. He signs again. He signs again. He signs again. He signs again. He signs again. He signs again. He signs again. He signs again. He signs again. He signs again. He signs again. He signs again. He signs again.

Result #4

The Center for Tactical Magic engages in extensive research, development, and deployment of the pragmatic system known as Tactical Magic. A fusion force summoned from the ways of the artist, the magician, the ninja, and the private investigator, Tactical Magic is an amalgam of disparate arts invoked for the purpose of actively addressing Power on individual, communal, and transnational fronts. At the CTM we are committed to achieving the Great Work of Tactical Magic through community-based projects, daily interdiction, and the activation of latent energies toward positive social transformation.For the project The Power of the Illusion (Disintegration), 2002, the artist created a video installation that juxtaposed the voice of an unseen actor with that of a masked magician, and a close-up of the image of a hand in the mirror, which was projected on a wall of the gallery. The magician is seen holding a wand of the same type used in the video, and is shown to be a masked figure, as he is being hypnotized. The video, shot from a motorbike, shows the magician moving his wand up and down, up and down, and back down again, until the final projection is of a hand in the mirror, pointing toward a mirror at the corner of the room. The video ends with the magician reaching out to touch the viewer, who is then asked to step into the video image. The wand in the video remains in the same position as when it was created, but the magician is no longer the one who moved it, and the spectator is the one who stands in front of the video.The artist also created a video installation in which two women engaged in a game of hide-and-seek. They wore masks and a pair of gloves, and each of their faces was covered with a mask. The video was projected on two walls, and the two women were shown at different times of day, from different vantage points. The game was played with a video monitor that showed the two women, with the video stills still on their backs, and the video images on the wall. The video was then projected onto the wall, where it was still projected, and the video images were replaced by a shot of the two women, which the viewer could see from the side. The video was then projected onto the wall, where it was still projected. The two women now had the same position, the same level of mobility, and the same amount of time to move about, as the spectator.

Result #5

The Center for Tactical Magic engages in extensive research, development, and deployment of the pragmatic system known as Tactical Magic. A fusion force summoned from the ways of the artist, the magician, the ninja, and the private investigator, Tactical Magic is an amalgam of disparate arts invoked for the purpose of actively addressing Power on individual, communal, and transnational fronts. At the CTM we are committed to achieving the Great Work of Tactical Magic through community-based projects, daily interdiction, and the activation of latent energies toward positive social transformation.In this show, Tactical Magic (formerly known as The Art of Security) was a retrospective. The exhibition featured many of the works that have appeared in the public eye since the late 1960s, as well as a number of the pieces that were included in the 1978 Whitney Biennial, which in turn contributed to the diffusion of these practices. The work of the latter two artists was represented by a large number of artifacts and drawings. The latter were of a rather intimate nature—cups, a fan, a fan-shaped fan—and thus it was not the case that the pieces were truly portable. The works were made by the same metalworking techniques as those used for their making. But the material quality of the metalwork is different: The materials of the cups and fans are the same as those used in their making. The cups and fans were formed by the same process of casting. The cups and fans are smaller, and are therefore much more portable, and the objects are, on a similar level, small enough to be carried in and out of the exhibition space.The show was divided into two parts. In the first section, there was a large, fully functional restroom, which was hung on a wall. The restrooms were clean and well-made, with the exception of a few spots on the walls where the pipes had been removed and the toilet was now exposed to the elements. The restroom was a kind of laboratory, a space of testing, where the spectator was invited to use his or her own body as a test subject. The works on display are all made from metal—the cups and fans are made of copper, the cups and fans are made of zinc, the fans are made of iron, and the fans are made of copper. The works are not only physical manifestations of the artists body, but also performative, expressive, and symbolic gestures.