Prosthetic Everyday
Prosthetic Everyday is a video that focuses on the movement of the human body, especially the knees. For ten minutes, it shows a man walking through a museum. The image is framed on his knees, one of which is covered by trousers, the other naked. This walk is interspersed with sequences showing the knees or the uncovered torso of the man still moving against a green background. As the video goes on, several things change. Firstly, the man changes his way of walking. Initially very fast, it becomes slower and more majestic. He even raises his knees to move like a bird. The rhythm of the music also accelerates. The works of art hanging on the walls also become more and more visible thanks to shots showing the paintings. However, the paintings remain blurred and difficult to identify. It is not so much the painting itself that counts, but the idea of the work. The last image shows the man taking a knee, in the same position as the figures depicted on the canvas in the background, which seems to transform him. In this video, the artist takes up one of his favourite themes: the study of the human body in the museum space.
Text written by Elise Vassiliadis-Poirey as part of the partnership between the École du Louvre and Lafayette Anticipations – Fonds de dotation Famille Moulin.
Exhibition
356 Mission, Los Angeles (États-Unis)
from 19 Jun to 02 Aug 2015
Shahryar Nashat a développé un intérêt précoce pour la vidéo qui occupe aujourd’hui une place importante dans son travail. Il mêle ce médium à la sculpture, à la photographie ou au mobilier pour créer des œuvres qui jouent sur la relation entre les objets et les corps des visiteurs. Ces derniers sont au cœur de sa création, l’artiste s’attachant à étudier le magnétisme que les objets d’art peuvent exercer sur les corps. Shahryar Nashat utilise des formes génériques, notamment des cubes et des polygones, dont il questionne la place dans l’espace muséal tout en explorant les relations entre elles et avec les visiteurs.
Né en 1975 à Téhéran (Iran), Shahryar Nashat a étudié à l’école supérieure des beaux-arts de Genève. Il a reçu le prix Lafayette en 2013. Il vit et travaille à Berlin.
