Birthday Greetings from the Bank
Screenshot, 2012
A real screenshot of the author’s internet banking page boasts birthday wishes of success and fulfilment of all plans. The text of the greeting is placed next to a considerable shortfall in the bank account, created by unpaid loans and tax debts. The screenshot is a real-life document, captured on the artist’s birthday at the deepest point of the recession.
This gesture of corporate courtesy is in direct contradiction of the true essence of the client/bank relationship, as the only ‘plans’ in this situation would have to concern debt repayment; fulfilment of any other dreams would most certainly have to be postponed until a more prosperous time.
This ‘cordial’ automatic greeting represents the limited ability of large corporations to address the client as an individual; an inability to recognize a particular client’s situation and problems.
Artist's Bio:
Artūrs Punte is a poet, editor, and curator, one of the founders and participants of the text group “Orbīta”. He writes and translates poetry in Russian and Latvian. Punte has graduated from the Maxim Gorky Literature Institute in Moscow. He has presented his poetry performances at literature and art projects in Riga, Vilnius, Berlin, Madrid, Dortmund, St. Petersburg and elsewhere. Punte is one of the curators of poetic video festival “Word in Motion”, has edited the collection of verse “Par mums”, almanac “Orbīta”, anthology of Dmitri Rantsev’s articles “Kinotācijas”, anthology “Laikmetīgā krievu dzeja Latvijā 1985-2005” and others. His work has been published in the periodicals “Karogs”, “Satori”, “Daugava”, “World Literature Today” and others. Punte’s works, including those created together with the text group “Orbīta”, fit equally well in the contexts of literature, visual and audio-visual arts and living arts (performances).