CELEBRATION (BUENOS AIRES)

The video Celebration (Buenos Aires) was made at the invitation of the MACBA (Museo d’Arte Contemporaneo de Buenos Aires). Op de Beeck went about making this video in more or less the same way he had for his earlier Celebration video (2008), working together closely with a family of migrants from a notorious, crowded slum area in the middle of town. He decorated the roofs of the houses with balloons and flags, and one sunny afternoon he organized a modest party on these roofs. A tableau vivant: the camera, mounted on a tripod, shows the inhabitants during the preparations for the festivities. Their quiet, almost intimate activities—a man is hanging lights, a girl is blowing bubbles, a mother is plaiting her daughter’s hair—contrast strongly with the dramatic skyline of snow-white high rises in the background. The personal, improvised, inviting life is completely at odds with the sterile, regular and impersonal character of corporate business. Because of the universal, pleasant atmosphere in the foreground and middle ground, the viewer can easily identify with this family of migrants in the Argentinian capital—a family that is not well-off, but seems to lead a life without problems.