STREAM: Statement Ortsbezogene Kunst: Helena Eribenne – Terminkalender

Date: March 26,2020
Start: 2pm
You are welcome to join the statement via zoom meeting: https://zoom.us/j/620763827

Self-Destructive Female Icons

My photo and video series, “Self-Destructive Female Icons” is an exploration, restaging and re-enactment into the representative images of seven 20th century born women who were successful and powerful in their fields. They were Romy Schneider, Princess Diana, Marilyn Monroe, Whitney Houston, Amy Winehouse, Paula Yates and Warhol muse Edie Sedgwick. They created powerful images of themselves that communicated strong messages through style and gesture. These women have been selected because of their biographical similarity and medial representation.

What interests me is not just how they are biographically linked, but also how they appear to represent mythological female figures from the past, in particular the goddess Venus or Aphrodite. There is also a link to figures in fairy tales such as protagonist Karen in the Hans Christian Andersen story “The Red Shoes”, which I shall go into more in detail during my talk. The women are linked historically and genealogically through time and images. I will illustrate this with art historical theories, in particular Aby Warburg’s bilderfahrzeug and bildwanderung. Moreover, I wish to discuss why I think these women became self-destructive and how this pattern of behaviour is selected by the elected few from our collective unconscious in order to fulfil a misplaced desire for worship.