Patrycja German, 80 vs. 3, 2006
Patrycja German
80 vs. 3

Patrycja German (*1979, Poland) uses video, installation, photography and performance to reflect on the forms of representation of the female body. Her actions question the roles of gender and typical gender behaviours. With an attitude that is free of complexes and is entertaining and provocative, the artist involves spectators and often makes them feel uncomfortable, transporting them to an ambiguous terrain somewhere between intimacy and distance. One of her basic questions is, “What happens when one continues at a point where something is normally finished, when one transgresses where one otherwise stops?" (Patrycja German)

Naked in a neutral and empty space, the artist is taken into the arms of three muscular young men, also with naked torsos, who constantly pass her from one to the other throughout the duration of the action. Their gestures evoke labourers unloading meat. The apparent passive attitude of the artist as an inert object in the hands of others and her references to sexual submission become increasingly ambivalent as the action develops. Her weight, 80 kilos, begins to overcome the three young men, who start to show signs of exhaustion while the artist, rested and refreshed, seems to enjoy the moment, amused and triumphant.

Courtesy Patrycja German

Document media
Video, colour, sound, 20:00 min

Issue date
2006

Tags
beauty, exhaustion, femininity, flesh, masculinity, vulnerability