Light streamed through the high glass windows of the gym onto the audience as the room slowly filled by fog. Deep, pounding music played as the Complete Body performance unfolded, with three bodybuilders walking around the pool in synchronized motions. The three men slowly and steadily traced the periphery of the pool. The swimming pool became a space of reflection, leading the viewer to constantly work (and walk) around the topic at hand, continuously drawn towards the water, but never allowed to enter it. The attraction culminated with the performance of EXP, a real K-pop band assembled as a part of the art project I’m Making A Boy Band by Bora Kim, Karin Kuroda and Samantha Y. Shao. Five men, each embodying a different boy band archetype that set them apart from each other, sang, danced, changed clothes and jumped into the pool as the audience cheered.
Standing there applauding, it seemed the audience had fallen under the spell of fandom. Worship is a strong force that borders on obsession, a theme cleverly touched upon by Amanda Alfieri’s high-strung, food-filled workout and talk. Using her own body and self-image as an object of obsession, Alfieri begged for someone, anyone, to stop her self-destructive behavior towards herself. In the end she found her answer in a Drake quote and in Instagram likes. Hidden ideals were again shown to unconsciously steer us on a daily basis, sometimes to the point of losing control over our lives. Also dealing with branding and social media were the shirts of Heine Kjærgaard Klausen’s Everyone Will Crawl, featuring collages of tattoos, selfies and cut-out prayers such as “TOUCH ME NOW.” Klausen explored the culture of branding by having live models positioned around the pool serving as living clothes racks filled with images of online self-exposure.
http://dismagazine.com/dystopia/80649/oceans-breathe-salty-2/
