The Public Body 0.2
…-The Public Body .02 brings together the work of more than 40 artists or artist collectives in one of the most explicit surveys ever seen in this city. The curators, Glass Kantor and Talia Linz, have continued the theme of “the sexualised body” but taken us into more marginal territory. Some works are satirical or buffoonish, others stridently political. Several artists explore the dark regions of the human psyche.
infuriating to see ignorant cultural vandalism disguised as policy about 6 months ago
There is an emphasis on works with a strong performative element, starting with wall sized photographs of actions by Leigh Bowery, the Australian performance artist who became notorious in London’s underground club scene. Bowery would dress in outrageous, gender bending costumes, spoofing perceptions of the body, sexual and social identity. There’s also a long, grainy film of one of these performances, which is arguably the dullest item in the show.
At the other end of the spectrum is Dani Marti’s video showing the art collector and patron, Peter Fay, having a first ever experience of human intimacy in his mid sixties. It’s a gruelling affair for the viewer, let alone the participants – all agony and ecstasy, with sweaty, hairy, aging bodies exposed to public scrutiny.
Marti crosses a line here, tearing away the veil of privacy that we guard most jealously. Fay’s self exposure is brave to the point of recklessness. Yet it’s impossible to be unaffected by this piece, which is the very opposite of pornographic.
I can’t say the same about the archive of super8 films by Richard and Pat Larter, which gleefully embrace the pornographic sensibility in the spirit of 60s’ sexual liberation, which saw everything a bit kinky or dirty as a blow against a straight laced Establishment. Both the Larters, who have passed on, were shameless enthusiasts and conoisseurs of pornography-…