SABINE JELINEK

ANGELS DON’T NEED HEALTH INSURANCE 2001

In Sabine Jelineks video "Angels don’t need Health Insurance" the female protagonist is sitting on the edge of a balconys balustrade. She almost seems like floating in front of the skyline of New York - like an angel, but without wings. Since she is sitting for quite a while and nothing really relevant is happening the viewer starts to get more comfortable with this breathtaking situation. There are just very little signs, like the noise of the siren in the background, or one wing of the panorama window, moving just very slightly in the wind. But then... 

This video work criticizes the system of a society stamped by the free market economy. The position for an artist living in this kind of system is ambiguous - there seems to be the freedom to have enough time to see what there is to see, but rarely there is enough money to consume what there is to consume.  

“Liberty without the possibility to live it, is like a gift from the Danaer, and refusing their potentiality is a crime.”   (Noam Chomsky: "Profit Over People")

Silvio Salgado

"Angels don't need Health insurance", 2001/07 (Video, with Sound, 5min)
Video Stills from "Angels don't need Health insurance", 2001 (C-Prints, Diasec, sizes variable)