Screen shot from Versions 2009,
Four Channel Video, 6.25
Starting in 2009 Versions by Oliver Laric is a series of three video works presenting a body of research on appropriation, the remix and the hybrid. Comprised of theoretical, thematic and aesthetic links between otherwise disparate subjects, Laric uses the dialogue in the films to describe notions of authenticity in relation to the image.
The 2009 video starts with a widely broadcasted image published by an Iranian revolutionary group in 2008 (see above). Later proved to be a fake, the image then became the source of mass manipulation by anonymous authors and published widely online. Laric uses this example alongside others to explore historical and contemporary ideas of image hierarchies.
In tune with Larics repeated interests on ideas of permanence, value and semblance, these works also express the problematized relationship between media and simulation. Although not a new topic, Larics work suggests that our perceptions of this has been warped further by our ability to equally produce as well as consume imagery online.
A video of the work can be found here.
