Blown Out, in De Kabinetten van de Vleeshal, was a solo presentation of photographic and video works by Swedish artist Maria Friberg (Malmö, 1966): her first exhibition in the Netherlands.
One of the key works featured in Maria Friberg’s Blown Out was Somewhere Else (1998): a large photograph offering viewers a rare glimpse of a world normally out of bounds: under the conference table, straight into the crotch of a smart suit. Here and there, the men’s knees inadvertently touch; body parts are outlined through clothes. Shoes and trousers speak the language of politics and business. Events above the tabletop are off the picture; what is usually of secondary importance now takes centre stage. Somewhere Else highlights the eroticism of what remains invisible, a dormant force trying to extricate itself from control and authority.
Friberg’s video Confront me Back (1997) also revolves around sensual abandonment. Slumped between the front seats of his car, a well dressed man is asleep. Every now and then, trying to get comfortable, he stirs, rubbing himself shamelessly against the upholstery – to then settle back down again in an indefinable pose more in accordance with his status. Yet, for a brief moment he has revealed what normally remains concealed within the seclusion of the company car. His position – wedged between the driver’s and the passenger seats – gives his contradictory desires away: to both control and submit.
exhibitions
tags: maria friberg
