VALIE EXPORT &
Syntagma analyses the complex relationship between female-presenting bodies and their representation in media. The video work from 1983 interweaves EXPORT’s research from the fields of Expanded Cinema, video art, photography and performance. The title refers to the linguistic concept of the syntagma, which describes the linking of words into word groups.
The artist repeatedly encounters herself as a doppelgänger during the video: her body appears in the public space, in her house, as a reflection or in the form of photographs. A central stylistic device of the work is the use of the split screen technique, in which the screen is divided into two parts, which respectively reveal different perspectives on the body. As a result, the work lays bare the fragmented nature of bodies as well as the various possibilities of its representation. By juxtaposing different perspectives on her own body, EXPORT analyzes the tension between self-perception and external perception that emerges for female-presenting individuals. In doing so, the artist particularly refers to the, often distorted and fragmented, representation of bodies in media. By way of montage, EXPORT creates an image of the body that is changeable and always negotiable. (Anne Diestelkamp)
