Cutting

Description

"Cutting" is the video registration of a performance that took place at Underground Explosion in Munich. A large sheet of paper onto which we can see the projected image of a building façade appears on the screen. VALIE EXPORT places herself behind the sheet of paper and carefully cuts out the following message: "The content of writing is speech". In the second part of the video, the artist cuts the clothes and body hair of an immobile man. The artist uses these two acts to pay homage to media theorist Marshall McLuhan and to Bazooka Joe, a famous comic strip character. The title echoes the act of cutting in its literal sense, i.e. using sharp objects, and refers as well to its more metaphorical meaning: the act of editing or montage in the filmmaking process.

VALIE EXPORT is an Austrian feminist artist and activist. She was close to Vienna Actionism artists such as Herman Nitsch and Günter Brus, although she considered her work to be distinct from the movement. She worked in the film industry from 1965 to 1968. In 1967 she changed her name to VALIE EXPORT (written in capitals) as both an act of self-determination and as an act of rebellion against the patriarchal system.

"Cutting" relates to other films that the artist made in the 1960s and 1970s. VALIE EXPORT defines these films as "Expanded Cinema", which aims to challenge the traditional medium, presenting avant-garde ideas on rethinking cinematic aesthetics and settings (for instance in the street or on stage).

-2019

Queer perspectief

Bestaan als belangenbehartiger betekent iets doen. Bestaan als object betekent dat je iets wordt aangedaan. Waar ontmoeten deze elkaar? VALIE knipt, VALIE wordt aangeraakt. Iedere performance is op eigen wijze confronterend. Het lichaam verwordt tot onderzoeksgebied, waar kwesties als controle, macht en belichaming worden onderzocht.

%>Tags: zeggenschap, lichaamspolitiek, feminisme, sekspositief

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