Ora Ruven, Home Of, 2020, (video still), (c) the artist
Pars Pro Toto is peer to space’s online series showcasing video art works which focus on very personal stories narrated by the artist or by the protagonist. The works are embedded in a thematic context of cultural, social, political, or environmental issues. A new iteration focusing on a further topic will be released bimonthly.
Pars Pro Toto creates a digital space for users to be silent observers and to simultaneously witness the social complexity of the world. By discovering artworks based on individual experiences yet presented in a broader context, the series demonstrates how the personal symbolizes a part of the whole, a pars pro toto. The personal story seen as an extract of an overall reality becomes visible and fits into the mosaic of the collective experience. Exploring larger issues through the individual lens activates awareness within the viewers. This leads to a deeper and more empathetic understanding of today’s global social conditions. The series promotes the importance of freedom of expression and the necessity of providing a voice for everyone as a basis for a caring and participatory society.
The first iteration of Pars Pro Toto, THE PERSONAL IS POLITICAL, curated by Gloria Aino Grzywatz and Tina Sauerlaender deals with the political and social conditions impacting individual lives. The stories told by artists Christa Joo Hyun D’Angelo, Lizza May David & Claudia Liebelt, JR and Ora Ruven consider the influence of the power of the state authorities, of war, exclusion, of discrimination of minorities. They reveal arbitrary political decisions and who is seen and who is not. Their stories take place in different places at different times, yet they show how the reciprocity of personal conditions and an individuals’ values inherited through the system in which they were born affect their path in life. The rallying cry “The Personal Is Political” echoes in their works as well as the overall motto of the screening series, Pars Pro Toto. It was used as a slogan during the student movement and second wave feminism in the 1960s, which is why this screening especially highlights stories of women. THE PERSONAL IS POLITICAL is online from May 1 until June 30, 2020
Visit the first iteration of PARS PRO TOTO - THE PERSONAL IS POLITICAL - here.