Dorian Sari, 1989

Art

Jury report

Dorian Sari’s “A&a—If art fails, thought fails, justice fails, …” is a video work depicting a struggle between two men, the singular protagonists in an unequal combat that unfolds implacably before the viewer’s eyes. Upper case and lower case, strong and weak, big and small, tyrant and subordinate square up in an abstract ring, revealing the inordinate strength of the powerful. The gestural aspect of this physical encounter (the giant’s foot pressing down on a tensed and frail torso, the colossus throwing himself with all his weight on the little man) is mimed, exaggerated, replayed ad infinitum to the point of becoming burlesque and almost grotesque. Dorian Sari’s exaggerated representation of strength and violence resonates as a stark evocation of the authoritarian power relationships at work in our contemporary social and political crises.