Rana Hamadeh: Standard_Deviation – An Evolving Animation Film Exhibition at Secession

Rana Hamadeh's 'Standard_Deviation' is an evolving animation film project that explores epistemologies and technologies of law, and visual languages of violence. The work uses a multi-layered digital aesthetic, combining 2D pixel art with 3D character psychology, inspired by Sophocles' 'Oedipus Rex' and framed as an 'endurance technology'.

Rana Hamadeh's 'Standard_Deviation' immerses viewers in acoustic and visual worlds, continuing her 'opera practice' that experiments with writing and composing models for collective thinking and learning. The exhibition centers on an in-depth examination of the epistemologies and technologies of law, analyzing the visual languages of violence rooted in the linguistic, legal, and theatrical infrastructures that shape our understanding of justice. The Secession presents a new iteration of Hamadeh's continuously developing animation film, 'Standard_Deviation,' created in close collaboration with Sara Hamadeh. The film reinterprets Sophocles' 'Oedipus Rex,' not by retelling the tragic fate, but by reading the dramatic constructs of the play as an 'endurance technology.' Based on a libretto authored by the artist, the work is translated into various sonic and visual forms, including spoken language, operatic performances, and expressions. Through a poetic approach to the classical narrative, the film illuminates the tragedy's progression by placing ancient figures against a backdrop of diverse references, non-linear narrative structures, and uncanny spaces. The film's digital aesthetic resembles a video game, merging two visual logics: 2D pixel animations evoking 1980s and early 1990s games, and distinct 3D animations offering insight into characters' psyches as if viewing the game on multiple levels. These animated 3D insights allow the distorted plot to be accepted as a 'game narrative.' Traditional plot gives way to seemingly absurd events, rooted in significant life moments such as birth, death, destruction, and resurrection. The visualized scenarios are both dreamlike and menacing, driven by gears and prosthetics, structured around the recurring theme of running, akin to Oedipus's attempt to escape his fate. Figures like legs, shrimp, block chairs, paper airplanes, and traffic cones populate scenes inspired by anatomical theaters, creating a constant unfolding of theater within theater. This display of fantastic images is accompanied by a six-channel composition, spatially realized for the exhibition, intensifying the sound. The work plays with the senses and the nervous system through an abysmal loop, a sense of claustrophobia, and the inability to freely leave mandated spaces, culminating in an experience of trance combined with disorientation. Hamadeh's artistic research typically involves long-term discursive projects realized as performances, sound compositions, interactive installations, system designs, and pedagogical arrangements. 'Standard_Deviation' is part of her growing body of work, 'The Destiny Project,' which has been exploring the production, consumption, circulation, and articulation of desire in contemporary global public discourse since 2020.

Information and tickets for exhibitions can be found via the provided link. The general opening hours are Tuesday-Sunday, 10 am to 6 pm. Specific ticketing details for this exhibition are available through the linked ticket portal, which appears to be managed by Eventjet for Secession events.