“KÖRPER IV“
Photographic concepts of privacy are examined in the last part of the thematic cycle „body“. These concepts however, do not oppose public life but are in close relationship with each other. Each claim for ultimate privacy is refuted by the simple fact that each photograph can be multiplied and manipulated. Moreover, this thematic cycle appears as a mixed form of public private and private public life.
In Erich L?z?r`s photographic series „Private Eye“, the artist takes an active part in the arrangement of the photographed motif. He acts as a confidant between the photographed object and the camera lens. For this reason friends, acquaintances, their microcosm and their brief joint escapes from it are picked as motifs. When his girlfriend – who also acts as his model – speaks of an „indifferent“ expression , she refers of to the choice of motifs, which contain succinct as well as pornographic objects, but not the composition of these two. His lay-out brings the motif to life by using the classical golden cut or by adding attributes which open up an additional narrative dimension.
Also Anja Teske concentrates on acquaintances in her photographic series „good bye“. The artist was looking for a suitable form of visually saving her memories when she moved out of a community which was very important to her. She found a specific production by asking her roommates to pose in underwear. Each person was allowed to choose the position to be photographed and also the kind of underwear. With a special light technique and by being out of focus, her lifesize photographs give the premonition of the absence of people who are still present. The ordinary underwear which is not meant to be seductive, functions as an indication of the close relationship between the roommates.
H. H. Capor has also looked at the body of a close person. The exhibited photographs depict a strong erotic component. In the artist’s words, they can be seen as an outlet of pressure. Central to his work is the recurring erotic approach to his models and the scenes which could evolve for the afterwards of loveplay. The phase of „being in love and horny“ (Capor) is visible in a private and also public way.
Everyday procedures of bodily dedication are central to 8 photographic series of Rita Fabsits. The early morning washing, drying and caring of the body hints at images independent from the fashion world. Stereotypical male glances on the female are cut out. „Similar to a citation, these photographic views on body parts hint at a unique subjective condition which are part of an intersubjective (female) experience and perception of the self“ (G. Steinlechner).
In two videoworks of Martina Chmelarz, bodily aspects are highlighted with strokes which are embedded in virtual spatial structures via a 3D-animation. The individual relations between body and space, body and architecture and body and society are also analyzed by the artist in other works. In this publication, she fragmentarily puts pictures from former works in relation with the exhibited video-tapes. The strokes „Körper“ i.e. „body“ as well as the artificially created body parts – alluding to a profane, manualcreation of the human being by Frankenstein – exist without a certain location and without answering the question of the origin and destination of the human. By being vague, Chmelarz stimulates speculations and provokes the curiosity of the recipient. He/she wants to explore that part which cannot be seen, namely privacy.
Mariette Pathy Allen intrudes in her series „Tonye“ on the private sphere of the other body. After direct confrontations with members of a transsexual community in which she encountered existential questions about identity, she met Tonye: A woman, who exposed herself to a sex change. Allen recorded the moments before the surgery, the surgery itself and the desired result. She disclosed the body as a battlefield of sexual and social identity and also the portrayed person’s the personal obsession with the body. The stereotypical images of male/female, beautiful/ugly or slim/fat get muddled up and uncover the average, simplified views of the normal body. The artist was successful to catch the moment of reincarnation of the portrayed, „new“ person in this photographic series.
Sabine Schaschl