g(sc)rub
la main d'eros
SHA*E

C2000 - Caroline Koebel
Video Compilation
g(sc)rub
In the face of seemingly infinite possibility for "memory", I decided to go with something that by its very "smallness" might be unexpectedly captivating. To this end, I begin by recording myself in the performance of scrubbing a pot. From this quotidian image I seek to tease out a more mysterious - or alchemical - quality, and to craft ore formally precise construction...

la main d'eros
The inception of this video is the incidental coming upon of David, an icon of the western world which simultaneously tugs and tires the imagination. As the product of Michaelangelo'serotic touch literally grows large before my eyes, my movement toward David approximating a cinematic zoom-in, I am confronted by the hard reality of fleshly representation. In a national cultural landscape so phobic of of public displays of sensuality and desire, and in a Buffalo infamous for its religiousity, David's presence is a roundabout of appeal He's right in the center of things as long as you have eyes for him. Mozart, whose music comes a couple centuries after Michaelangelo's art, is content, in bust form, to gaze unblinkingly at the bronze-solid spectre of male beauty in the crowd.


This silent video nests three textual statements - ear, bird, and mouth in a head of hair. (The site of) the face as identificatory factor is disrupted by its concealment, in a subject-audience relationship that enhances the sensation of separation and distance elicited by the tales. The distinction between the real and the imaginary is purposely confused, and the outward manifestation of an interior rhythm is established through repetitive gesture and compulsive editing.