Head (Without World)
Austria, 1987
www.icouldhavedancedallnight.nl
Thesis: Versions of Hysteria: Power Dynamics at Play in the Work of Ingeborg Bachmann & Chantal Akerman
In my work, I am fascinated by relations (of power) and the process of identity formation. I like to ask myself how people interact with each other, how their relations work, how they are shaped by ideas and how the subject becomes an individual only through its relations to others. My research questions, therefore, focus on the process of self-identification by means of others, the structure of ruling ideology and the social roles we are assigned with within that structure.
This self-identification through the other I also refer to as Cannibalism because by devouring someone else's thoughts, work, belongings you create an image of yourself and establish an identity. These dynamics I consider brutal and I wonder if they`re inherent to human interaction.
My work is performative and includes performances as well as video installations, collage, and photos where a/my human body is shown or being referred to. I call it performative because I find the action that creates the work the most important and interesting. I am very interested in the relation between the audience and the work and relate to this as situations (so the whole situation becomes a work), whose frame conditions I create.
I hope to question the way we relate to others, to blur the lines between the You & Me and this because, to say it by quoting a title of the short film by Chantal Akerman:
J'ai faim, J'ai froid (I'm Hungry, I'm Cold)
