Mit Arbeiten von Elena Dorfman
The exhibition »The Origin of the New World« from Los Angeles based artist Elena Dorfman accompanies the workshop »In the Uncanny Valley. Encounters in Arts, Media, Continental Philosophy«. It is a sequel to Dorfman’s 2004 seminal series Still Lovers that examined the domestic relationships between men and dolls. »The Origin of the New World« displays photographic lightboxes which are inspired by Gustave Courbet’s painting from 1866, »L’Origine du Monde«. They replace the painter’s flesh-and-blood model with a silicone sex doll. Dorfman states, »visible only when the light box is switched on, the doll’s prone figure is illuminated through a one-way mirror. The darkened mirror – normally used for surveillance and interrogation – is employed here as a device to prompt viewers to consider their own relationship to the subject, as well as the broader issues this post-human figure evokes.« Cf. Elena Dorfman, The Origin of the New World, San Francisco, CA: Modernism, 2017, no page numbers, and online: elenadorfman.com, https://www.zhdk.ch/forschung/ith
The exhibition will be open for fixed daily hours in the week from December 18th to December 21st 2018. Details are below.
Opening
Saturday, 15 December 2018, 15.00-15.30 h, with Elena Dorfman, Dieter Mersch, Jörg Sternagel, followed by the workshop through Sunday, 16 December
Open
Tuesday, 18 December, 12.00-14.00 h, 15.00-18.00 h, with Nadja Ben Khelifa
Wednesday, 19 December, 10.00-12.00 h, 14.00-16.00 h, with Nadja Ben Khelifa
Thursday, 20 December, 16.00-19.00 h, with Jörg Sternagel
Friday, 21 December, 10.00-12.00 h, with Jörg Sternagel
org. Institute for Critical Theory, Zürcher Hochschule der Künste; Institute for English Language and Literature, Freie Universität Berlin; Studio Elena Dorfman, Los Angeles | SNF research project »Actor & Avatar«