It is Hard to Touch the Real is a comprehensive compilation of contemporary video art. The archive contains more than a hundred works that are available to Bildmuseet’s visitors until the end of March 2005.
Around 60 internationally active artists explore different ways of presenting and communicating reality in documentary video works. They confront the viewer with real – or seemingly real – phenomena and events that give the impression of existing independently of the documentation. The participating artists both use and question the documentary working method.
The videos included in the archive touch upon a variety of themes, both personal and political. The films challenge our sense of authenticity and our ability to distinguish between reality and fiction through a combination of investigative journalism and improvised staging.
The archive includes works by Kamal Aljafari (Palestine/Germany), Yael Bartana (Israel/the Netherlands), Ursula Biemann (Switzerland), Johanna Billing (Sweden), Mircea Cantor (Romania/France), Loulou Cherinet (Sweden), Esra Ersen (Turkey), Vimukthi Jayasundara (Sri Lanka/France), Anri Sala (Albania/France), Hito Steyerl (Germany), Solmaz Shahbazi (Iran/Germany) and Jasmila Žbanić (Bosnia), among others.
The archive has been compiled by the Kunstverein München, and is presented in collaboration with Umeå Academy of Fine Arts at Umeå University.
