2012, ORGANIC LIFE, Mediations Biennale. UNKNOWN, KC Zamek, Poznan

BERGAMOT GROUP

ORGANIC LIFE

Peformance
2012
Mediations Biennale. Unknown, KC Zamek, Poznań, Poland

8 min

We created a performance in which a woman, lying on the floor in front of a man, did her evening make-up, using the reflection in the man's patent leather shoes instead of a mirror.
This performance touches on several layers of meaning at once, concerning gender roles, power, identity and self-perception through another.
The man's patent leather shoes act as a mirror - an object traditionally associated with self-contemplation and image construction. However, this "mirror" is part of the male image, an object with power and status. The woman is forced to see herself not in a neutral mirror, but in a surface belonging to another - a man. This is reminiscent of traditional artistic practice, in which a woman is often perceived as an object of contemplation, but here the situation is reversed - she tries to create her image using a reflection in an object that does not belong to her.
This can also be considered in the context of the existentialist philosophy of Jean-Paul Sartre. In his concept of the "Other's gaze," a person becomes aware of themselves through the perception of another subject, which gives rise to both self-awareness and dependence. The woman in the performance does not simply look at the reflection - she literally constructs her image through the presence of a man, his objects, his gaze.
This can be interpreted as a critical commentary on the social role of women, whose identity has historically been formed through male perception.