Elle et Lui
Video installation, 1995 / 2 x 12 min in loop Stands, monitors / Forêt du Crestet, Le Crestet Centre d’art, France.
ELLE [She], Judith Henry, actress, in the middle of the forest declaims on the monitor variants of the word “baiser” [to kiss, to fuck] and gives precise descriptions of the various Kama-sutra poses. Her recital is interspersed with fragments of the Fair Sex and the Noble Sex excerpted from Emmanuel Kant’s Reflections on the Beautiful and the Sublime. The word “man” has been replaced by the word “woman”, and vice versa. Added to this list is a traumatic act of copulation from the animal kingdom, the toad, and the titles give a list of words taken from Jean-Luc Nancy’s Corpus.
LUI [He], Martin Gosset, non-actor, in the empty patio of the museum declaims on a monitor other variants of the word “baiser” and gives precise descriptions of other Kama-sutra poses. His recital is interspersed with fragments of the Noble Sex and the Fair Sex excerpted from Emmanuel Kant’s Reflections on the Beautiful and the Sublime. The word “woman” has been replaced by the word “man”, and vice versa. Added to this list is a traumatic act of copulation from the animal kingdom, the bug, and the titles give a list of words taken from Jean-Luc Nancy’s Corpus.
LUI stumbles over the words, it is hard for him to read it all out. He knows that he is going to lose something. I find his way of speaking extraordinary, and unprotected.
ELLE is lighter, joyful and controlled. She is not afraid of speaking. The museum’s exhibition rooms stayed empty. At just one spot in the forest you could hear Elle et Lui at the same time.