For the work entitled Inversion, I developed a project combining video, performance, theory, and historical research. In this project I performed a body modification ritual, situated it in the context of Circus and Sideshows and inquired into its similarities, differences and connections in various points: from how the Body was presented (in performance, in terms of transformation, and gender categorizations) to the perception of Body movements in Space.

This work was presented as a three-form combination of a book, video installation and short lecture. Part of Inversion was also to research the relationship between the grotesque and the carnivalesque. This historical and theoretical research, as well as my experience with circus and trapeze, are described and illustrated in the book. Also included in the book are a series of interviews with circus and sideshow performers.

Another part of the project was the video experiment when I performed the knee suspension and placed multiple cameras –almost as an extension of my body. The videos "loop from above" and "loop back-light" show the gestures I made with my arms and hands when trying to adapt to the first moments of my body in the air. Initially these two videos were presented in 23 inches flat monitors that hung opposed each other in the inner sides of two parallel white walls. This installation was called “inside the loop” and it aimed to create a more private atmosphere, to give the viewer more “time” for reflection, and to review the work over and over again.

The video sequences called "going up" and "taking out" offer a general view of the performance and occupation of the space by my body, by the structures, by the cameras, and even by the rest of the people who participate on the process of this work. "Going up”, is a short edited version of the suspension. It starts by showing when the hooks got attached to the suspension structure and ends with the moment I started to make the gestures with my arms and hands while trying to adapt to the first movements in the air. "Taking out” shows the removal of the hooks and the movements of the scissors cutting the layer of the tights to clean the wounds.

Inversion is presented as a combination of practice and theory and it aims to go beyond artistic representation: the opening of new possibilities of interpretation.

Credits:

Camera: Reza Tavakoli, David Wiltschek, and Cornelia Hauer
Piercing: Thorsten Sekira (assisted by Markus)
Costume designed by Dernier-Cri

Special thanks to: Betinna Henkel, Joerg Pacher, Melissa Lumbroso, Ulrike Köppinger, Johanna Rille, Katharina Fiegel, and Ami Han.