Florence, Cinema Odeon, November 24 2012
Monarchs & Men – a film produced in 2012 by German artist Jan Peter Hammer – is an an investigational dialogue on art in the world of capitalism.
Based on a text by Maximilian Harden, combined with newspaper articles and interviews with such figures as Martha Rosler, Tracey Emin, Jennifer Allen and Bill Gates, Jan Peter Hammer shows a cross-section of a hypothetical conversation at the opening of an exhibiton, emphasizing its contrasts and contradictions.
In this interview, produced by Radio Papesse with Felpa Video for the 5th Edition of Lo schermo dell’arte Film Festival, Jan Peter Hammer shows how it was precisely the contradictions encountered daily which gave the inspiration for this video, and how the five protagonists are nothing more than archetypal characters who mirror the contemporary art world. The artist explains the difficulty of creating characters who have strong and universal arguments – while remaining in a highly specific context – and of affirming the impossibility of separating artistic values and political argument. His characters support widely disparate theses – each of them convincing in its own way – and Hammer, extrapolating these contradictions, assumes his own clear position on the subject.