Enemy Exposed
Sinseeni, a Berlin-based artist, is planning an exhibition delving deep into the concept of “enemy.” Comprising multimedia elements, including video and a monumental installation, it dissects the notion across languages and cultures. A towering victory column, constructed from dictionary pages, symbolizes collective understanding and offers a discourse on the meaning of the word in 110 languages. Sinseeni employs various media to engage audiences, including atmospheric sounds and AI-generated imagery, which he manipulates. This juxtaposition between intimate and public spaces underscores the universality of the subject matter. Sinseeni elucidates that the project is not merely about physical construction but is rooted in profound conceptual exploration.
Through a media performance Displacement of the Divider Needle (2024), which also falls under the umbrella of the concept “enemy,” Sinseeni challenges norms, engaging in a simulated interview with a virtual president while walking barefoot near the Berlin Wall with a column base on each foot. Berlin, chosen as the backdrop for this groundbreaking exhibition, provides fertile ground for exploring provocative themes in a multilingual and multicultural context. Sinseeni’s journey as an artist, marked by risk and political critique, finds resonance in the city’s ethos of artistic freedom and expression. As Sinseeni presents this ambitious project, it offers an immersive journey through language and culture, prompting reflection on human interaction and conflict.
The interpretation of meaning is brought to a head in media processes of transformations; he combines them with provocative and playful elements. In the video ‘Following the Yellow Line,’ he implements a computer game as an artistic instrument. In the form of ‘hacktivism,’ he subverts the game’s rules by going to the extreme of all programmed possibilities. The avatar, a military game character whose purpose is to steal and kill, is forced to behave completely differently. Drunk, the hero staggers along the yellow line and has trouble staying on course. He lets himself drift and gets repeatedly caught in more or less absurd situations. For example, he enters a police station and falls from the roof. Luckily, he has many lives in the game. The impeded killer constantly turns into an artist by precisely re-acting legendary performances from Vito Acconci, Marina Abramovic, Chris Burden, Francis Alys, Yves Klein, Valie Export, and Gilbert&George.
In his work, Sin doesn’t just tell a metaphoric tale about the deep meaning of life. In his re-enactments, he makes a playful and refined reference performance as an art form and builds a digital monument to it.
