Yesterday I viewed the film 'Being John Malkovich' (Spike Jonze, 1999 ) screened by the NGV International in conjunction with the Ron Mueck exhibition. I imagine that the NGV decided to screen it because Ron Mueck was originally a puppeteer as is the main protagonist in 'Being John Malkovich'. Both are involved in the real or imaginary manipulation of bodies. The other obvious reason is that Mueck plays with scale in his sculptures (some are gigantic and others incredibly small, making us think about body schema, identity and our relationship to the body of others) and BJM has a kind of Alice in Wonderland feel. In BJM those who work on floor number 7 1/2 floor at LesterCorp, with its lowered ceilings and shortened doors look gigantic, and a strange portal discovered in one of the offices plummets a person's body into the mind of John Malkovich like the rabbit hole that Alice falls into. Ron Mueck's exhibition and Spike Jonze's 'Being John Malkovich' are interesting because they deal with the way that we relate to the body of others in particular ways. Whilst the film reveals that the characters can be simultaneously self and other through virtual reality, Ron Mueck's exhibition creates a real physical presence through his highly realistic sculptures.
© Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to [Julie Joy Clarke] and [Anything But Human] with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. Unless otherwise stated all images are Copyright to Julie Clarke (c)
No comments:
Post a Comment