The Lock
The Lock (fantasy figure wrongly attributed to Fragonard) opens with a recreation of Fragonard's eponymous painting from the late 1770s, and mixes official art history with fictional art history, reminiscences of the Enlightenment and Star Wars, sadistic rhetoric and pre-Revolutionary atmosphere, physical performances around a bed and discursive performances at the table. By simultaneously pulling the thread of the pictorial, the sexual, the fantastical and the historical, we're likely to come across a bone: that's exactly what the piece is looking for. The bone.
Gutting Vénus brings together three pieces - I kiss the eyes, The beautifulindifferenceand The Lock (fantasy figure wrongly attributed to Fragonard).
The end of each section is the starting point for the next: similar arrangement of people and objects, same red velvet curtain, same questions.
It's best to see all three parts if you want the questions answered. However, as the answer is not crystal-clear, you may be satisfied with one or two parts.
Directed by Claire Ananos