September 17–October 30, 2021
The ULAY Foundation is proud to present the intergenerational exhibition BODY ECSTATIC BODY ECLECTIC BODY ECCENTRIC, featuring works by Ana Mendieta, Annegret Soltau, Arvida Byström, Elena Tejada-Herrera, Iza Pavlina, Jeremy Shaw, Letícia Parente, Marina Abramović, Molly Soda, Sanja Iveković, Ulay and Ulrike Rosenbach.
BODY ECSTATIC BODY ECLECTIC BODY ECCENTRIC looks at the issue of the body and its performativity in a variety of media (moving image, photography, performance), juxtaposing some of the most important artistic positions from the 1970s with those of more recently established and emerging artists, who work with digital media or solely in the post-digital realm. Presenting artists who use (their own) body as medium to challenge traditional conceptions of gender and sexuality, self-imaging and the narrative of women’s ongoing struggle for social justice, the exhibition deals with the body and the bodies: their groupings, rituals, presence and absence. Public environments, where certain kinds of physical movement were once taken for granted, are today, in this time of pandemic, differently categorized and choreographed; the architecture of domestic space is being reconceptualized; and the body is increasingly contained, bordered. What does the body desire today? Is the desire of the “ecstatic body” of 2021 similar to that of the “ecstatic body” of the past, and what does the “ecstatic” state even mean, when so much of our lives is spent and shared on a screen? BODY ECSTATIC BODY ECLECTIC BODY ECCENTRIC looks at how bodies metamorphose, how they adapt to the pressures of society and how they try to break free of such limitations.
The work of selected female artists from the 1970s—Letícia Parente, Sanja Iveković, Ulrike Rosenbach, Marina Abramović, Annegret Soltau, and Ana Mendieta—grouped under the heading “The Feminist Avant-Garde,” forms the historical frame of the exhibition. The aim is to show the current relevance not only of these artists’ body-oriented performances and pioneering achievements but also of the issues they addressed and embodied through both intimate and politically charged works, which feel so contemporary today. The pandemic has magnified all inequalities, and women’s independence is one of its silent victims. The virus and sociopolitical response to it have only further accelerated and exposed the oppression women face in today’s society: their economic, political and reproductive rights are again under attack worldwide. Over the past 20 months, women have been on the front lines of the struggle against the coronavirus in hospitals and nursing homes; there has been an appalling increase in unpaid domestic labour; women’s access to contraception and safe abortion is being severely restricted; and rates of domestic violence and femicide have risen sharply. In the face of these developments, women have joined in solidarity, forming a resistant collective body that in the midst of the pandemic has mounted massive protests in Central-Eastern and Southern Europe, in Latin America and now, especially, in the United States. With the return of the Taliban, Afghan women are again facing brutal violence. The works of the female artists from the 1970s, mentioned above, offer us a historical perspective on these issues. Elena Tejada-Herrera, meanwhile, whose multidisciplinary work received greater attention in the early 2000s, deploys tradition, personal footage of ordinary (trans‑)women of all ages, and absurdity, to generate narratives that redefine notions of gender categories, (physical) strength and social agency.
With the pandemic our lives have been spent even more disproportionately on screens. Zooming in on our own image has led to a hyper-awareness of our on-screen appearance—with a correspondent rise in cosmetic surgery and specific beauty procedures. Molly Soda, Arvida Byström and Iza Pavlina, all born around 1990, are at home on the internet, working across several digital platforms, producing videos, GIFs, and web-based works. Performing for the camera, with their performances and actions often streamed in real-time, they explore the divergence between self-perception and the gaze of the other. They question body ideals and body dissatisfaction, societal pressures, female sexuality and authenticity, intertwined with feelings of intimacy, shame and desire based on an economy of “likes” and a culture of self-help/self-improvement. Long before the selfie dominated social communications, Ulay turned the lens of his Polaroid camera on himself; role-playing through physical transformation lies at the heart of his performative photography phase from the early 1970s. Performing for the camera without a live audience, in the intimacy of his private space, he was, like the featured female artists from the same period, concerned with what it means to “other”—either in terms of one’s body, class, or race or by breaking through cultural barriers.
While building a bridge between the bodies of the past and the bodies of the present, BODY ECSTATIC BODY ECLECTIC BODY ECCENTRIC also looks into the future with Jeremy Shaw’s pseudo-documentary science fiction film Liminals. Presented as special screenings, the film shows us a marginalized future society that attempts to save humanity from extinction through transcendental activities; Shaw creates a hypnotic experience that implicates the viewer in the very phenomenon he depicts.
—Hana Ostan Ožbolt, curator
The exhibition is accompanied by an open call for young artists.
Production and organization: ULAY Foundation, Ljubljana / Amsterdam
Curator: Hana Ostan Ožbolt
Location: ULAY Foundation Project Space, Igriška ulica 3, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
We are especially grateful for the generous support of the Verbund Collection.
We are also grateful for the kind support of the Municipality of Ljubljana, 1 Mira Madrid, the Richard Saltoun Gallery, König Galerie, ABRAMOVIC LCC, Projekt Atol, Fotopub, the Moderna galerija and the Kapelica Gallery.
Programme for the opening weekend:
September 16, 2021: Press preview
September 17, 2021: Opening day
6pm: Jeremy Shaw, Liminals (2017), screening. (Limited seating, reservations required.)
7pm: Jeremy Shaw, Liminals (2017), screening. (Limited seating, reservations required.)
8pm: Iza Pavlina, Inner cycles (2021), performance & exhibition opening.
September 19, 2021:
5pm: Elena Tejada Herrera, They Sing, They Dance, They Fight (2020), self-defense workshop. (Limited number, reservations required.)
7pm: Jeremy Shaw, Liminals (2017), screening. (Limited seating, reservations required.)
8pm: Jeremy Shaw, Liminals (2017), screening. (Limited seating, reservations required.)
Reservations, inquiries or all additional information: info [at] ulayfoundation.org
