“Black Magic (screensaver edition)”
Tintin Cooper
13 Jan → 28 Feb 2024
Tintin Cooper presents Black Magic (screensaver version) in the West Space Window as part of her residency in the West Space Studio.
Zinedine Zidane, best known for head-butting an opponent, has spurned countless memes himself and is widely known online as the ‘magician’ with ‘black magic powers’ because of his immense and unexplainable skill. Countless internet images have been spawned from him, including the artists' own, which sits comfortably alongside meme culture.
Black Magic deconstructs these memes, imagining a new story of Zidane’s life – from his black magic powers and head-butting incident to being comfortably up at home.
Read A popular game for the people by Sebastian Henry-Jones.
Program
On Sport, Memes and Power
Saturday 17 February, 3 → 4pm
Tintin Cooper presents a talk on her practice followed by a visit to her West Space Studio.
Tintin's practice takes its starting point from online images — from sporting icons, memes like Pepe the Frog to ancient Roman busts of the emperor Caligula. Her interest stems from their constant mutation and evolution, and attempt to dissect and understand the male heroic image, through humour or outright subversion.
Tintin Cooper was on residency at West Space as part of Creative Australia's Debra Porch Award: Visual Arts Residency. The West Space Window is supported by City of Yarra through their Annual Arts Grants Program.
Tintin Cooper is an artist based between Bangkok, Thailand and Berlin, Germany. Her practice spans image and video appropriations, light works, painting on ceramic tiles and sculpture. Her work appropriates pop culture images and memes (popular themes include football, selfdefense, the army and war, yoga and pseudo-spirituality fads), which are then deconstructed across various media. Tintin has shown across the Tate Britain, Transmediale, Sydney Biennial and Bangkok Biennial, and her work is held in the Staedel Museum collection. In 2024, Tintin Cooper was on residency with West Space as part of Creative Australia's Debra Porch Award.