Alejandro Vidal’s recent video Tactical Disorder (2006) inquires into the relationship between the state of security and the culture of fear. The increasing number of security measures which are driving us to a “post-political” scenario ,thereby changing the political register away from the State, from conventional concepts, and from accepted identities, saying instead that politics emerges through lifestyle, through Art and discourse. It’s now impossible to differentiate between technologies of control and regulation. Vidal highlights the lack of communication and the limited political emancipation of our contemporaries.

Some of Alejandro Vidal’s previous videos begin as a point of inquiry into the power of fear and the control it exerts over contemporary urban societies. Vidal culls his symbols from street culture, punk music scenes, performative death rituals, and popular film figures. While his work focuses on common depictions of violence to which we as media consumers have become desensitized, his interest lies in deconstructing these representations. His videos highlight the performative aspects of violent acts coupled with the power these performances have on our everyday attitudes and behaviors. He examines the underlying consequences of what we absorb through the political, social, and media messages we receive in the state of alarm in which we live today.

Vidal’s work often presents the moments leading up to or the aftermath of a scene of violence. What remains or hangs over such a moment is the anxiety of the unknown, the anticipation of something terrible that allows our minds to twist and create deeper fears than we need. Examining these reactions within the confines of art allows us as viewers and as members of society to apply that critical structure into our everyday thoughts and reactions.