With the Phantom Letters exhibition, the artist James Newitt presents himself to the Belgrade audience for the first time. A selection of recent video works and accompanying elements reflect the artist’s continuing interest in speculative narratives. By combining elements of both personal and official history, Newitt creates unique moving images to articulate a relationship to the various social and political mechanisms that shape the human experience.
A phantom presence in the form of represented bodies, voices, text and images stalks the viewer’s gaze. The induced hypnotic effect evokes the question of what is personal and what is collective memory in the modern moment moderated by (surveillance) technologies, borders and the continuous flow of information.
James Newitt’s work explores specific social and cultural relations, embracing mutability and paradox. His videos and installations investigate spaces between individual and collective identity, memory and history, fact and fiction through personal, observational and performative approaches. He works on projects that often involve extended periods of research into specific social, cultural and environmental situations and the development of ongoing relationships with individuals and communities.