Mexico City, January 23 – February 21, 1997
Curated by Heidi Zuckerman Jacobson
Artists: Vito Acconci, Scot Cohen, Cheryl Donegan, Peter Land, Paul McCarthy, Alix Pearlstein, Carolee Schneemann, Hannah Wilke
The exhibition Video (Desnudo) compares representations of the human body in videos of the 1970s with those of the 1990s. It features the work of eight video artists, who utilize their own naked body to express an idea. Some of the works question societal beauty standards, especially those applied to women. In Gestures by Hannah Wilke (1974), the artist pinches and twists her face to make it ugly, criticizing the constant effort to achieve a superficial beauty. In 20 Percent Less Fat (1994-95), Scot Cohen documents his change from overweight to muscular over the course of the year, making fun of the ideal body type by striking poses typically associated with models and athletes. These two videos also illustrate one of Zuckerman Jacobson’s main interests: the different ways men and women portray each other in video. “The tapes by the men all have an irony, a sense of humor to them, whereas the tapes made by women are much more serious, almost somber”, Zuckerman Jacobson says in an interview. “But for women it’s really the first opportunity they’ve had to control the presentation of their own image, so it’s a very serious issue for them.”
