An Evening at Home
Künstler/in
Maria Petschnig
(geb. 1977 in Klagenfurt, Kärnten)
Date2011
ClassificationsVideo
MediumVideo auf USB-Stick, 16:9, HD, color, sound, HD Media Player
Paper Support2-teilig
Dimensions7 min 31 sec 868 ms, Player: 4 × 12,5 × 9,8 cm
Credit LineArtothek des Bundes
Object number28005
DescriptionSexual and performative subcultures once occupied the margins of public space—clandestine clubs, dangerous piers, back rooms of bars. It was, in part, these oppressive conditions of social conformity, along with a lack of discourse about sexuality and gender norms, that galvanized radical feminist performances of the 1970s, such as Adrian Piper’s “Catalysis” series of weird actions, Lynn Hershman Leeson’s double life as Roberta Breitmore, and VALIE EXPORT’S legendary interventionist work of presenting her topless body as cinema in Tapp und Tastkino.Today, the Internet has revolutionized the process of letting one’s freak flag fly. From camwhores to Meetup groups to Craigslist, the Web provides a full menu for catering to seemingly every kink. Of course, the turn from semi-public to private displays of sexual satisfaction has a profound effect on questions of queerness, visibility, and feminist expression. Maria Petschnig’s An Evening at Home is a deadpan, absurdist video of the artist herself in her apartment that hints at these contemporary, alienating conditions of sexuality and viewing.
Like many of Petschnig’s recent videos, the soundscape for An Evening at Home could be described as ambient. Yet, instead of white noise or room noise, the sound of an offscreen man singing along with aggressive, vaguely misogynistic heavy metal tracks by Avenged Sevenfold and Godsmack accompany the visual action. The viewer never discovers whether the man is a neighbor, roommate, or partner.
Petschnig, for her part, is the sole protagonist of the video. The artist arrays herself in garments evocative of BDSM and cosplay—among them a green leotard with stenciled letters and harness straps, a sheer bodysuit arrayed with round cutouts along the back and body, a leather harness affixed to her back with clear elastic, a balaclava, leather chaps, and bandages over her nipples.
In short scenes, she cleans a bathroom mirror, eats snacks in bed, uploads sexy images on her computer, shaves her pubic hair, and gives herself a facial; in short, she relaxes at home. The stationary camera always films at waist-height, like a webcam affixed to a monitor capturing the moments between Internet performances or Skype dates. This unusual angle, aimed at her back while she watches herself in the mirror, is adamantly anti-spectacular.
Petschnig’s video slyly posits a contemporary response to the old politics of identity. Her mutable, sculptural presentations of erotic costuming equally avoid an easy alliance with third-wave feminism’s reclaiming of sexuality as power. Instead, these intimate performances in front of (rather than for) the camera suggest a representation of pathos and loneliness among society’s fringe.
—Wendy Vogel
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