Curated by Caterina Avataneo
Inspired by Graham Harman’s essay On Vicarious Causation, Performing Objects speculates on the performativity of objects through a selection of videos by Isabelle Cornaro, Benedict Drew, Anna Franceschini, Rebecca Lennon and Zoe Williams, and additionally draws parallels between object-oriented theories and the objectification of the human body.
While the videos offer glimpses of a world beyond the scope of human interrogation, the surrounding space designed by Zoe Williams and the durational choreographed performance by Anna Franceschini suggest a celebration of fetishism/eroticism and a bidirectional contamination of body and object, respectively.
In a context where distinctions between subjects and objects are blurred, each playfully mimicking the other, art historian Maria Walsh and philosopher Iain Hamilton Grant reflect on pornographic literature and the treatment of flesh, and discuss how, or even if, it is possible to re-contextualize or re-interpret the human body.