Melanie Manchot: SECURITY

“..…His skin would seem to burst over such a mass of muscle. Buried in his clumsy movements is that sense of sadness of an over bred species, caught in his own monstrous body. He is a paradoxical creature: built to please, to be looked at, yet how can such an absurd body engage in sex, other than with itself......” Translated from feuilleton of Sueddeutsche Zeitung, essay on Ibiza titled “Around the clock, always on the edge” by Dirk Peitz.

Security is a new video installation by German artist Melanie Manchot. Filmed outside Ibiza’s superclubs, the work consists of a single screen projection and 7 small flat screen monitors. Each monitor shows a nightclub bouncer standing in front of the entrance to the nightclub where they work. They are filmed in daylight, wearing their normal ‘security guard’ outfits.

These men are at the pinnacle of this male dominated profession, and hold the keys to ‘a good time’ to the thousands of international visitors who flock to Ibiza for its world famous club scene.

It is the power that these men hold that fascinated Manchot, and she has questioned both their self image and our image of them by asking each of them to carry out a simple task. Manchot has invited each bouncer to strip for the camera, in their own time, in front of the doors where they work at night. As the security men proceed to undress, stripping completely until naked, they stand and pose for the camera for as long as they feel they can and then get dressed again.

Through out the process, the camera remains static, observing them, recording the physical, emotional and psychological transformations that these men undergo. Each man relates and performs differently, however what is revealed is actually quite similar. Their self worth and personal relationship to their own bodies is laid bare, as is the way that they use clothing to create an impression or extended images of power, an impression that is underscored by the enormous amount of time and effort these men have lavished on their bodies

Security will be installed as a large-scale projection of these men undressing, accompanied by a series of 7 small images of the same men standing fully clothed, awaiting their turn to strip. Having these two modes of presentation aims to produce oscillations between stasis and action, between active and passive, tensions between strength and vulnerability.

The soundtrack of the videos consists simply of the ambient sounds of undressing, the clanking of shoes, zips opening and closing, the rustling of clothes against skin and the occasional unexpected clattering of objects falling out of pockets.

Pressetext

Melanie Manchot: SECURITY 2005
new video works