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THE END OF PRETENDING, DIGITAL VIDEO WITH SOUND, 10 MINUTES, 2019
THE END OF PRETENDING IS A SHORT situational comedy about contemporary homosexuality. THE WORK INCORPORATES SONG, DIALOGUE AND ANIMATION TO DESCRIBE HOW INDIVIDUAL AND COLLECTIVE COPING MECHANISMS get LEARNT AND RE-PERFORMED, LIKE SONGS THAT GET STUCK IN our HEADs, which ARE COMFORTING AT FIRST, BUT THEN BECOME EXHAUSTING. SET IN A NEWLY BUILT APARTMENT, THE ACTION PLAYS OUT OVER AN AFTERNOON WHERE A GROUP OF GAY MEN IN THEIR THIRTIES SING TOGETHER. IN THE NEXT ROOM TWO MEN WHO HAVE NEVER MET before TRY TO ENACT A SEXUAL ROLE-PLAY. PERFORMED BY A GROUP OF GAY MALE ACTORS WHO WERE ALL BORN IN THE 1980’S, THE VIDEO EXPLORES THE LEGACY OF THE AIDS CRISIS on the gay male experience, AND CONSIDERS HOW NORMATIVE RELATIONAL MODELS have changed THE WAY GAY MEN INTERACT. The video was commissioned by Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst, zurcih and was included in UNITED BY AIDS — AN EXHIBITION ABOUT LOSS, REMEMBRANCE, ACTIVISM AND ART IN RESPONSE TO HIV/AIdS. Featuring works by over 40 artists, the exhibition was curated by Dr. Raphael Gygax. The exhibition was accompanied by the publication of the anthology United by AIDS – An Anthology on Art in Response to HIV/AIDS. |