FINAL PREVIEW COMPLETE
Elena Slobtseva
Elena Slobtseva In my current video shorts I explore perceptions of the body, its manifestations, behaviors, desires via the anthropomorphous medium – jelly mass. Wiggling jelly mass is wet as well as most
of the human body, it moves like the body and provocatively can even be edible and pleasing to the taste. Jelly has a fleeting existence, it deteriorates easily, it can be extremely beautiful and ugly at the same time. My experiments with jelly started in 2012
formless, amorphous and shining texture. The hand in the frame is awkwardly and somewhat obscenely reading the book. “Book” shows the interaction of animate and inanimate bodies – the hand and jelly. The hand functions as the mind here, bringing matter – jelly – to life. The binding of the book is a body fold, so the hand (a part of body itself) is trying to read the body. The video focuses on the touch experience, the hand movement is a spontaneous performative action, driven by curiosity. Since we do not see the head, it may remind of Braille, blind reading. It is the left hand that is acting, which is believed to be “dirty” in some cultures, it may be the dada’s or the child’s hand, which does not know right from wrong, which is maybe questioning the proper. My own self-therapy message in this video: accepting as much of the body life as possible, without being overwhelmingly vulgar, approaching the topic of sex, female and motherhood experience (it is usually the mother who deals with a child’s feces).
On a fishing day, 2 min 57 sec, 1920:1080
with a performance “Breastfeeding” when jelly breasts were offered to the public at the exhibition opening. This dessert could be a usual thing at a night club but it became somewhat defiant and provocative in the museum context. In the video “Book”, jelly mass becomes the text, the message being its wet,
“On a fishing day” I have a very strong childhood memory of a fishing day with my father when I caught a luce. The dead fish travelled several hours home and then, when it was cut and cleaned, its heart was still beating, without body. It continued running even when cut to pieces (pardon the child’s curiosity). It was a striking experience – seeing the organ working without the body, contemplating the will of an organ at its purest. There is movement, yet there are no visible traces of the mind which communicates movement to the body. The characters of a jelly shape and its peculiar rhythmic movement are in the center of attention in this video short. Multiplication of layers is the expression of the nonsensical and total character of the “organ” movement. Elena Slobtseva
On a fishing day, 2 min 57 sec, 1920:1080
An interview with
Elena Slobtseva When we spoke of Elena's art, we should imagine a "tactil" way of perceive video. The perceptions of the body is one of the main aspect she focuses on, revealing a contemporary sensibilty. How did you develop your style, Elena? The material, tactile aspects of art making are very important for me. There were times when I non-systematically (the lack of formal training aided it) and intuitively messed with materials and the outcome was not always encouraging. I think recently, largely due to people I was happy to meet with, I have become more aware of the materials' implications and hopefully have become truer to materials. So now after some time of experiments on materials I stand back and make decisions –
whether to be minimalistic and distill the very essentials of my experiments or to show something more decorative. We have introduced in our previous question the "tactil" nature of your art. Referring to "Book", you say "The binding of the book is a body fold, so the hand (a part of body itself) is trying to read the body." Could you introduce our readers to this fundamental aspect of your art? Our visual and life experience is confined to the surface or the skin of things, and there is always a feeling that we cannot go to the core, or to the meat, to put it this way. Thus if seeing seems to be the most superficial of the senses, there is a chance that one can feel/understand more by touching. The hand, being simultaneously a subject and an object,
The medusa touch, short version - 3 min 53 sec, 1280:720
does the Braille, blind reading, not knowing the right from wrong. If you ask me about the fundamental aspect of my art, I can only think of the performative aspect – touching and manipulating materials, trying to peel them off and violate the surface. But these are only words. Could you take us through your creative process when starting a new project? Usually I mess a lot with materials, play with them, taking photos or making small videos. Later I review the files with a more critical eye. Sometimes it takes months to see the message of some personal or aesthetic value in the experiments. There is another common way to make things with me – the message is already there and it
needs a medium to be said. For example, right now I have several images that I need to express in order to get rid of them, and the materials will probably not be that important in those works. Your videos have a performative nature, indeed, just think of On a fishing day. What artistic media do you prefer to work in and there any that you don’t like to use? At present I don't feel at ease with performance when I have to be the integral part of the action. I once made a performance but the center of attention was the jelly dessert and that was fine for me. Maybe I have to see more performances to appreciate this genre.
Book, short version - 2 min, 1280:720
We recognized in your works a remarakable influence by Jan Svankmajer. Have other artists influenced your work? (Elena blushes) Jan Svankmajer is a great big artist, though if I was influenced by him, it was on a subconscious level. I think I could respond more to the art of such great female/feminist artists as Eva Hesse, Alina Szapocznikow and Hannah Wilke, to mention the few. Their strange and fresh sensibility seems very appealing to me and it would be great to express it in video. Thanks for sharing your time and thoughts with us, Elena .What's next for Elena Slobtseva? Thank you for the interview! I feel there is a lot to explore from where I am now, so there will be more video pieces from me.
Book, short version - 2 min, 1280:720