Tolerance Strikes Back

Tolerance Strikes Back is a video-installation that was exhibited in Gallery IJburg, Amsterdam.
The video which was shown is entitled Geert Wilder's New Ideology 2010 — A gift for Holland. The exhibition took place from November 2009, until January 2010.

The video shown in the gallery has a central role in the installation. The installation recalls a stage where an essential speech is given. Pinar&Viola, being graphic designers currently located in the Netherlands, came to a point where it was time to react on the populist politics using their own tools.

The video is making a statement on Wilders' politics by narrowing the gap between 'us' and 'them'. In the video collage, Wilders' words are taken out of their context and placed in a new order. This action recalls the collage Fitna that is constructed from verses of the Koran. Without demonizing him, Wilders is used as a stooge in order to tell a constructive and progressive message.

The installation is not destined to research on how
two different socio-cultural group could mingle, or even should mingle. As two designers, Pinar Demirdag & Viola Renate, cannot find the solution to solve the clash between the West and the Islam, but can refuse to keep on going with this gap between 'us' and 'them'. As a designer-duo, they have their tools to coop with this very issue that also troubles their own everyday lives.

The video-installation is destined to create an enchanting moment in the hostility where people might find themselves in today's Dutch society. The video installation intends to regenerate positivity that people might loose within the current climate where fear and hate tries to take over.

In the realm of the polarization politics of Wilders, this work is a reaction which won't make him benefit of his underdog position where hateful reactions towards him often returns back to his public image as a gain.