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Jill Magid
Failed States
Jill Magid is a New York-based artist and
writer known for work that infiltrates structures
of authority and power by means of
engaging their human side. Rather than
treating these structures as subjects to
challenge, Magid creates opportunities to
manipulate them, by drawing them closer,
exploiting their loopholes, engaging
them in dialogue, infiltrating their systems,
repeating their logic.
For the Bucharest Biennial, Magid will
present Failed States, a work of literary
non-fiction, as a text and within an installation
of related works. She will form collaborations
with local magazines in
Bucharest to print excerpts of the book
within their publications. The book will be
published by Publication Studio, which is
“a laboratory for publication in its fullest
sense — not just the production of books,
but the production of a public. This public,
which is more than a market, is created
through any and all means — physical
production, digital circulation, and social
gathering. Together these construct a
space of conversation, a public space,
which beckons a public into being.”
Failed States approaches the war on terror
through the theme of embeddedness,
and explores media representations of
terrorism. The work examines how far the
definition of terrorism or war can be
stretched.
Jill Magid, Failed States , offsite instalation, 1993 Mercedes station wagon, armored to B4 Level,
parked at the Texas State Capitol, 2012. Photo by CT. Courtesy of the artist.
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