Chloe Piene, The Dwarf, 2004
Video still, duration: 1 min 20s
Courtesy Galerie Obadia, Paris
The Dwarf2004 In her drawings and videos, Chloe Piene examines physical aggression, desire and failure. The shaky lines of the bodies in her drawings imply unsteadiness, highlighting the violence done to and by the human body. Piene made her short video The Dwarf in Basel during the installation of a show at the Kunsthalle Bern in the winter of 2004. She met the dwarf, a well known performer, in a circus in Basel. The video was shot at the end of the day, which explains the strong chiaroscuro. The figure in a cleaner?s outfit repeatedly climbs the stairs, clearly frustrated by a bent mop. As soon as he reaches the platform, he falls to the floor and walks down the staircase again, caught in the endless loop of the video. Hysterical, highspeed cackling in the background gives the impression that Piene is playing with the genre of fantasy or horror. The soundtrack, loop and the monitor?s installation seem to seal the nameless dwarf?s fate, revealing the normally invisible power structures that influence one?s bodily state.
Biography
Chloe Piene
(Stamford, United States, 1972)
