A Bold Use Of Talc

We have of late been neglecting the arts, and that simply won’t do. By way of correction, here’s another chance to behold the feats of the Austrian choreographer and performance artist Ms Doris Uhlich, filmed earlier this year at Vienna’s Rabenhof Theatre. The video of Ms Uhlich’s performance – which, we’re assured, is a “vigorous and critical” work, a “bodily and textual discussion of flesh and opulence” - is presented below the fold. For reasons that may well become apparent.

Vivaldi was unavailable for comment.

Comments

[David]

Needless to say, Ms Uhlich is not without her admirers, with a more recent work, Tank, previewed all too briefly here, resulting in statements such as the following, by critic Anja K. Arend:

Doris Uhlich throws her body into the field of social discourse, mirroring in it representation, criticism, proximity and distance in equal measure… She leads us to the existential questions of human existence and its place in an increasingly digitised and technological world. And in today’s increasingly polarising discussion culture, it is to her credit that she gives no answers.

Which, it has to be said, seems both entirely predictable and awfully convenient.

And which brought to mind this:

The pretence of intellectual heft and critical discernment is quite funny, given the unspoken rules of pretend artists and their pretend art. Like practically all of her fellow hustlers, Ms Schaefer tells us that she “investigates” and “questions” things, and presumably interrogates them; but despite this allegedly relentless curiosity, I doubt that any specific insight or profundity is ever conveyed to her audience, such as it is, via the art, such as it is. And of course, we’re not supposed to notice this, or notice the comical mismatch of arch rhetoric and inept flummery. And so, in order to feign discernment, one has to not discern any number of really obvious things.

From here.

[Killer Marmot]

Although fire and the wheel are considered among mankind's greatest inventions, clothes must surely head the list.

[sk60]

Needs more talc.

[Steve across the Pond]

I feel so enlightened. And need a shower.

[David]

I should point out that Ms Uhlich exists on a higher plane of competence than Ms Schaefer, but it’s interesting how the same rules are understood, and how both ladies receive similar wordy indulgence from critics. Those higher beings who are steering us to the light.

[David]

Needs more talc.

Needs more coat.

[Hal]

Needs more talc.

For anyone curious, yes there is a definite difference between talcum powder and baby powder.

Talcum powder is very finely ground up talc,

[Xas7wcrg9e]

404 - damp patch not found

[randian]

How does this not violate YouTube's Terms of Service?

[Jacob]

I think Vivaldi's doing all the work there.

[Angus]

Why does it seem that so many artists are complete perverts?

[Penseivat]

Apart from having 4 minutes 53 seconds of my life that I will never see again, was disappointed her act didn't end when she was crouched over that pile of talc, fart, and disappear in a white cloud.

More seriously, wasn't there some controversy about women using talcum powder long term as it can cause uterine problems?

[David]

Why does it seem that so many artists are complete perverts?

I don’t know about perversity, beyond the general disregard for aesthetics, but there’s often a kind of unappealing neediness. And so, we get an abundance of chunky ladies trying to construe their chunkiness as both radical and fascinating. As if nudity, or indeed talcum powder, added something mysterious and profound. See, for instance, the second item here.

[Farnsworth M Muldoon]

Posted by: Xas7wcrg9e

File that under small blessings.

...wasn't there some controversy about women using talcum powder long term as it can cause uterine problems?

A suggested association with ovarian cancer and in post-menopausal women, uterine cancer. The difficulty is how, other than perhaps through talc on a surgical glove during some sort of open lower abdominal procedure, to explain the mechanism as insufflating ones nethers with talcum powder is not exactly what one would call common practice, and the stuff would have to get from the outside, through the vagina, cervix, uterus, and fallopian tubes to get to an ovary.

[Adam]

...it is to her credit that she gives no answers.

We are not talking about Nancy Pelosi, right?

Right?

[Burnsie]

The "Smearing Stuff on Your Naked Body" genre really hasn't grown much since Karen Finley did her chocolate thing back in 1990, has it?

BTW, where's the audience? Half the fun is watching the desperate attempts by people to appear engaged by this kind of silliness.

[MC]

a “vigorous and critical” work, a “bodily and textual discussion of flesh and opulence”

The turn is as meaningless as the phrases turned to describe it.

See, for instance, the second item here.

Noooo! DO NOT SEE THE SECOND ITEM IN THAT LINK. It may take you a lifetime to unsee.

[pst314]

And, of course, our taxes pay for Doris Uhlich's shite:

https://davidthompson.typepad.com/davidthompson/2011/07/meanwhile-in-the-arts.html?cid=6a00d83451675669e2014e8a097eef970d#comment-6a00d83451675669e2014e8a097eef970d

https://davidthompson.typepad.com/davidthompson/2011/07/meanwhile-in-the-arts.html?cid=6a00d83451675669e20153901cee0e970b#comment-6a00d83451675669e20153901cee0e970b

Lord Vetinari had a point.

[David]

Noooo! DO NOT SEE THE SECOND ITEM IN THAT LINK.

Hey, I’m just sharing the rich cultural nourishment of our artistic betters. With their tummy folds and boobs and their bum cheeks a-jiggle.

[[+]]

bum cheeks a-jiggle

Band name.

[Farnsworth M Muldoon]

With their tummy folds and boobs and their bum cheeks a-jiggle.

It is not art unless there is cabbage involved. Maybe it was heads of lettuce, regardless, produce.

[pst314]

It is not art unless there is cabbage involved.

I thought it was plinths and cherubs.

[Xas7wcrg9e]

@Burnsie

BTW, where's the audience?

Social distancing.

Far, far, away.

Because they know what's good for them.

[David]

Band name.

And a pretty good pen name. For when I start writing those saucy pirate stories. Busty maidens and plundering, that kind of thing.

[Farnsworth M Muldoon]

I thought it was plinths and cherubs.

Only in dead white man capitalist art, which is reactionary, misogynist, and counterrevolutionary.

[Lady Cutekitten of Lolcat]

It’s a packed house!—If you count the cameraperson.

[Trevor]

The "performance" received exactly the amount of applause it deserved.

[Steve E]

Stunning and brave.

She plays a mean left boob to say nothing of the vibrato she gets out of that belly fat.

[Daniel Ream]

The weird thing is I can almost comprehend this. I've known a couple of morbidly obese women and it's common practice to use talc in the, er, underfolds to prevent rashes and skin lesions. I can see how some slightly tubby performance artist might see this as a Gross Injustice that requires addressing in the form of lurid exhibitionism.

[Eagle]

I really cant decide if I should click on that or not.

The phrase "if you stare into the abyss, the abyss stares back at you" keeps popping up in my consciousness whenever the mouse moves over the link.

[David]

I really can’t decide if I should click on that or not.

I get that a lot.

[David]

I can see how some slightly tubby performance artist might see this as a Gross Injustice that requires addressing in the form of lurid exhibitionism.

Ah, but, you see, Ms Uhlich is “[Asking] herself and her audience how the body can become a trademark and what this means.” Obviously. Other deep questions are, we’re told, being posed - by throwing talc around - including, “Who is beautiful and who isn’t?” And, “What does the word ‘beautiful’ mean?” (At risk of being unkind, I’d suggest that beautiful is the difference between Ms Uhlich’s chosen music, created by someone else, and her own flummery.)

[MikeM_inMD]

BTW, where's the audience?

I'd say it was the appropriate number of tickets sold.

The "performance" received exactly the amount of applause it deserved.

Indeed.

I pity the person who has to clean up after this. I hope they have appropriate breathing apparatus to protect from all that dust.

[Sporkatus]

As a thought-provoking exercise, a bodily, vigorous, and textual discussion, and an interrogation of our weltanschauung, I'd say it's running a distant second to the luminous reenactment of the Battle of Pearl Harbor by the Batley Townswomen's Guild.

The latter has a great deal of exercised proximity and distance at turns, existential neo-mummery, and playful representation of cultural violence, that I can tell you.

There's a great deal of ourselves in the muck, tweed, and handbag.

[aelfheld]

Setting the playback speed to 2x helps.

[aelfheld]

More seriously, wasn't there some controversy about women using talcum powder long term as it can cause uterine problems? -- Penseivat

There are women who blame talcum powder for their ovarian cancer & there are lawyers who've managed to convince a jury or two that was the case despite a lack of evidence.

[David]

Setting the playback speed to 2x helps.

Heh. It does jolly things up a bit.

[Hal]

It is not art unless there is cabbage involved.

I thought it was plinths and cherubs.

According to a community artistic expert, one has Grecian urns.

[David]

It is not art unless there is cabbage involved.

The second paragraph here has some lettuce-related art.

Also, underpants.

[nbc]

The trick to looking at our host's art collection is to click play and then immediately pause. Then run your mouse cursor along the time-line and you get little thumbnail images which take all of two seconds to view. I find that not wearing specs helps, thus preventing mental scarring and saving 4 minutes and 51 seconds.

[Karl]

Behold the brave revolutionary warrior!

Also, I'll just leave this here: #BelieveAllBidens
After all if it works for Michelle Obama on a piece of cardboard it must work anywhere on the internet right?

[Sam]

That's how my hair looks too right now.

Her head hair, lest anyone think be confused.

[David]

That’s how my hair looks too right now.

One more time.

[Frank Black]

Terry did it better
https://youtu.be/0hwpDnA0_V8

[Burnsie]

Setting the playback speed to 2x helps.

Wow, at 2x speed the "reveal" is awesome. That's one dramatic strip down!

[PiperPaul]

"It does jolly things up a bit."

You mean you watched it again?!

[Governor Squid]

The phrase "if you stare into the abyss, the abyss stares back at you" keeps popping up in my consciousness...

Honestly, I feel that way about nearly all the materials our esteemed host chooses to share with us. How he manages to keep his sanity (or to project the image of such to us here) shall forever be a mystery.

[David]

How he manages to keep his sanity (or to project the image of such to us here) shall forever be a mystery.

[ Eye-twitching intensifies. ]

[Hal]

[ Eye-twitching intensifies. ]

[NTSOG]

The pretence of intellectual heft...

Well she is physically hefty, but I fail to see any great 'intelligence' in her display. She does need to lose some flab, but, then again, there may some women's rugby team needing assistance in scrums.

[Richard]

where's the audience? The first performance was critiqued and discussed in all the best places. This was the (highly anticipated) second performance.

The 2x speed was great. What is on her head?

[Smallish Bees]

Do you suppose the performance artist was aware that her hair is a parody of the Bride of Frankenstein? Consciously making those kinds of allusions is usually the artist's job.

This stuff wasn't even transgressive back in the '80s, when I was in school. All of this is so dull, so non-creative, so out early without the layers and layers of meaning that the art-crit people want to pretend are there.

And how could this idiot have not used Beethoven's Emperor Concerto? it's a much better and clearer choice for musical accompaniment for this kind of miscreant behavior.

https://youtu.be/hDXWK3W477w

[Squires]

I can’t help but suspect that the weighty/well past their prime females in these alleged “arts” are manifestations of the same spectrum that also gives us the grossest of dudes who flock to gay “pride” and nudist events, and that they are all exhibiting a sort of inversion of aggressive mimicry behavior, in the same way that it is theorized that codependency is but a form of inverted narcissism.

[FlynPigRanch]

I'd hate to be sitting front row center at the 3:15 mark.

What type of bush was she hiding behind?

[Atempdog]

How he manages to keep his sanity (or to project the image of such to us here) shall forever be a mystery.

Cthulhu just called. He says you're freaking him out.

[BlogDog]

In the immortal words of teh intarwebz: “Not my proudest fap.”

[Hal]

Details.

[Hal]

A Bold Use Of Talc

Something else somewhere else---but being artistic---reminded me to go looking for A Bold Use Of Det.

I was reminded of and trying to find the artist(s) who would take a flat steel plate and sculpt with det cord, but I did find someone working with walls . . .

[FlynPigRanch]

I remember the Bride of Frankenstein as being somewhat slimmer.

[David]

Sorry, couldn’t resist.

[SumDumGuy]

I suppose requesting that she clean up after herself would constitute emotional labor?

[Captain Nemo]

My mother came into the room as I was watching that, and now I have some awkward questions to answer. Also, thanks for ruining Vivaldi for me.

[David]

My mother came into the room as I was watching that, and now I have some awkward questions to answer.

I’ll write you a note.

[Captain Nemo]

I’ll write you a note.

Heh. Credit note only, presumably.