2018, photosensor-ran installation video loop projection 04’33’’, microphone, speaker
The interactive installation invites the viewer to join in and sing along with the karaoke machine, while watching a generic landscape with a shadow of a non-specific national flag over it. The project With love deals with xenophobia, racism, nationalism, and national identity. The inspiration for it was a gesture made by German Music Industry Association (BVMI) that decided to end the Echo Deutscher Musikpreis awards after the announcement of the winners for 2018. The musicians winning the award, rappers Kollegah and Farid Bang, whose music is openly anti-Semitic, received the award on the day of „Jom Ha-šoa in ha- gvura“ commemorating the victims of the Holocaust. How can this situation in Germany be compared to a similar situation in Czechia? The winner of the main Czech music award was, twice in a row, an openly islamophobic band Ortel. The National Federation of the Music Industry (IFPI) labeled this situation as inappropriate and wanted to cancel the competition as well.
The meaning of the Japanese word “karaoke” can be translated to English as empty orchestra. It’s a form of entertainment, where an amateur singer sings along with an instrumental version of a notoriously famous song. The karaoke-like installation consists of a projection, microphone and speakers. The projected lyrics belong to a song by Czech band Ortel. A flag is a symbol of national identity and its shadow is a metaphorical embodiment of implicit danger.The viewer/participator is not forced either to feel adoration, rejection or to ridicule it. The installation ought to put the viewer on this play-field, where it’s only up to them if they join in and become the singer of this song.
Five Difficulties
2018, video loop projection with sound installation,
four headphones
The installation displays a fictional dialogue between Bertolt Brecht's essay "Writing the Truth - Five Difficulties" from 1935 and video meditations on the topics of love that are amongst the most viewed content on the online video sharing platform Youtube. The dialogue addresses the current social problem of "getting lost in the overwhelming flood of information".
2018, With Love, solo show at Artivist_lab, Prague, curated by Tamara Moyzes, Prague, CZ
Edita Štrajtová na výstave “With Love” ukáže dve na seba nadväzujúce inštalácie, ktoré diváka vťahujú do interaktivity. Zároveň vzbudzujú otázku manipulácie, ktorou autorka naráža na súčasné sociálne siete a globálne korporácie, ktorých dôsledkom sa naša spoločnosť stala presýtená informáciami do takej miery, že individuálny subjekt nevie rozlíšiť ich zdroj vzniku. Edita Štrajtová si tak na jednej strane kladie otázku, či rozširujúca xenofóbia v našej spoločnosti nieje syndrómom, ktorý sa šíri cez média a odchytáva aj percento ľudí, ktorí si neuvedomujú presne dopad a následky. Na druhej strane sa snaží vniesť podobnú manipuláciu médií do oboch svojich interaktívnych inštalácií, čím vzbudzuje v divákovi diskurz a sebareflexiu.
