Faces

The work consists of a series of short video clips which can be displayed separately or as a synchronised multi-channel projection. “Faces,” like Kozyra’s “The Rite of Spring,” originates in ballet. The piece stems from a period started in the late 90’s. during which the artist was fascinated by dance and movement (“Lords of the Dance”, “Dance Lesson”, “Boys”). The original shape of “Faces” also formally refers to “The Rite of Spring” – the audience witnesses a peculiar presentation displayed on double-sided screens, forming circles around them. These screens present, in an unnatural, hyper realistic way, dancers’ faces shot from only several dozen centimetres away – and extreme emotions they display: Above all, enormous focus, tension and great effort. Lips pursed, eyes wide open, fast-moving eyeballs, forehead creased and beaded with sweat. Everything which normally isn’t visible, here was pushed into the foreground. In this work we can observe up close the faces of dancers doing ballet, modern dance or hip hop, and from such a vantage point they seem to resemble masks.