[ISEA98] Paper: Elizia Volkmann – Blazoned and over-exposed: Post-modern bodies in public spaces

Abstract

Cross-examined by Paul Brown & Nancy Reilly-McVitie

Blazoning is the act of exposing the body either visually or through words. In Renaissance to Tudor times the blazon was a varied expression of power. For the anatomist dissecting human corpses in search of an understanding of the human anatomy (particularly female anatomy) it offered the answers. For male courtiers blazoning was the bandying of bawdy verse at their rival blazoneur. The blazoneur would use imagery drawn from his lover’s body as a weapon of duelling with his opponent. Queen Elizabeth I ruled her court with power fuelled by sexuality. She had the knack of flashing her belly at her courtiers at parties with a simple, deft movement of dress to tease the men at court. The paper will look into the relevance and power issues for artists using their own bodies as tools for their art. How do we mediate the postmodern body? Is the site of flesh becoming more or less obscene, what is its power and how do the new mediums affect the impact of the body on our consciousness? As society becomes more and more alienated from the physical how do we approach and communicate our visceral life experience. Like pubescent children we are eternally fascinated by our bodies and yet are in the main ignorant of their physiology and anatomy. We consume narratives about the body on a daily basis searching conflicting narratives for the answers we seek. What are the future strategies for artists to pursue in exploring and trying to resolve the west’s difficult relationship with the body? Is there a hope of reconciliation with our bodies? With bodies being redefined with new technology, where is true cyborg art when the real cyborgs are amputees and the disabled and not Stelarc? Why are most body artists thin? Is scientific research the saviour or another devil with further questions? All these questions will be questioned and perhaps even answered.

  • Elizia Volkmann, UK, recently became famous for deliberately putting on body fat as preparation for the “Forbidden Bodies” project (a process of transgenerment through body sculpture she is in phase 2 fatstripping, muscle building). Now that the dust has settled from the media attention she is reconstructing that event in the video installation “PhatMedia Blast”. Her art work has always been concerned with issues of personal identity and also paradox. After completing a cycle of work about immigrant identity she became aware that for the immigrant without the homeland the only territory was the body. Her academic research explores the strategies currently being employed by artists working with the body and the future strategies and possibilities for such art production exploiting the rapidly developing technologies of transmission, sensoric control, feedback, imaging, interaction etc. Her first degree was at Sheffield Hallam University where she organised the “Body Poli – tech conference” in 1996, currently research is based at Leeds Metropolitan University. She is also a partner in the production company Blue Eyed Sky which has a remit for research and development of moving image and sound work either commercial or art based. This fall she is exhibiting “Drown” – video installation premiering at Batley as part of the Photo 98; further works and exhibitions in Dublin; the launch of “Traders” (a live action/CGI distopian drama) at the Leeds Film Festival; and Tullie House Carlisle will see the re-presentation of “PhatMedia Blast”. She has recently been made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.
  • Paul Brown, UK/Australia
  • Nancy Reilly-McVitie, UK