Video, DVD Pal, 6 minutes
In the early summer of 1973, Annette Messager followed strangers on the streets of Paris and secretly photographed them. The photographs depict men from the neck down - without a face; the focus of attention is shifted to the flies on the men's trousers. The artist expanded on her version of voyeurism in the photo studio by approaching the observed objects so closely that solely abstracted folds remained. Annette Messager herself interpreted her work Les Approches as a reversal of the usual subject-object-relationship between men and women.
Cornelia Sollfrank seized upon this work 34 years later. Dressed as a tourist, she strolled through Paris with her video camera and secretly filmed men, whereby she was particularly interested in their trouser flies. Digital cutting and image processing technology enabled her to achieve new forms of convergence and abstraction.
In the early summer of 1973, Annette Messager followed strangers on the streets of Paris and secretly photographed them. The photographs depict men from the neck down - without a face; the focus of attention is shifted to the flies on the men's trousers. The artist expanded on her version of voyeurism in the photo studio by approaching the observed objects so closely that solely abstracted folds remained. Annette Messager herself interpreted her work Les Approches as a reversal of the usual subject-object-relationship between men and women.
Cornelia Sollfrank seized upon this work 34 years later. Dressed as a tourist, she strolled through Paris with her video camera and secretly filmed men, whereby she was particularly interested in their trouser flies. Digital cutting and image processing technology enabled her to achieve new forms of convergence and abstraction.
