Rossella's stuff

the piece titled silent by berlin-based duo renate lorenz and pauline baudry is 7 minutes video installation inspired by john cage’s score 4’33” from 1952. cage’s work, in which music instruments remain silent for the whole duration of the piece, is reinterpreted by lorenz and baudry to fit the ongoing discussion about gender identity and its contemporary definition. the video starts by showing microphones arranged in a row against a white backdrop. actor aerea negrot enters the framing in medium close up and stands behind the microphones, as somebody about to give a speech. the backdrop soon collapses and the public space of a square is revealed on the background. the actor stays silent for most of the piece, merely performing minimal gestures such as leaning over or tapping on the microphones, changing facial expression, but generally looking straight at the camera, while the fixed frame sustains the close up. only at the end the perspective changes, showing the actor seated on a nearby bench, singing about meaning and implication of violence.

the short video was made in a public square in berlin. actor, microphones and camera were mounted on a revolving platform, allowing the perspective to remain fixed all the while as the background slowly and unceasingly moves behind them. the stillness of the camera in relation to the actor and microphones create a sort of tableau, with the actor confronting the viewers and resisting their gaze almost exclusively with bodily presence.

silent allows lorenz and baudry to challenge the viewer at a purely visual level. what is the value of defining something that is fluid and ever changing, what is the role of individual subjectivity versus perception inherited through society? these are a few of the questions that the artists propose, leaving space for personal interpretation.

the work’s relation with the rest of the collective exhibition among other things, i’ve taken up smoking is both one of meeting and confrontation. as the general theme of redefining gender roles is focused for the most part on finding new ways of construing identity through challenging existing practices, silent introduces altogether a lack of verbal definition and leaves the act of decoding gender-related practices within the realm of the physical.