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dEATh defEATs, crEATes, repEATs
2 channel video, 21 min. 40 sec.
2012

dEATh defEATs, crEATes, repEATs is inspired by the phenomenon of ritualistic cannibalism, a strive to acquire the essence of another person by consuming parts of her/his body. Cannibalism is deeply embedded in the romantic lore of mankind's evolution - tied to mythology, religion, witchcraft and heroism. It exemplifies the instinctive human desire to gain control over death, and ultimately, triumph over it. The video is centred around the idea of consuming (all the words in the title contain eat) in the sense of reflecting upon the limits of the self, a mirrored self, upon a sort of "transcendent" cannibalism. It is a rumination about our intersubjectivity and intercorporeality as an artistic duo, and perhaps an attempt of locating the 'third mind'.
The hyperrealistic pastries of our life-size portraits carry an uncanny resemblance to our physical appearances. The performance in which we struggle with the initial intimidation and later with the sweetness of the cake gradually shifts from an epicurean feast into an endurance quest. The physical body/resemblance (an avatar for the self) became the locus for the elaboration of otherness, of dialectics of inside and outside. The mirroring process takes place also behind the camera: Lucia is recording Anetta and Anetta records Lucia while facing and eating the other's face. Eating one another blurs the line between the I and the other - enacting something unconsciously understood but consciously inaccessible.















installation views in 8smicka, Humpolec, 2018







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