Performing Portraiture: Video from the Collection of Manuel de Santaren Part I
From the MFA Press Release:
Unlike a still portrait, video captures the dynamics of identity unfolding over time. This two-part installation focuses on highly staged and ritualistic actions that reveal how identity is performed on camera and in our everyday lives. Hailing from vastly different regions of the world, the artists address how identity tropes such as gender, race, religion, and nationality are enforced by family, peers, and other institutions that organize their respective societies.
On view from July 2014–January 2015, videos by Gabriel de la Mora, Ene-Liis Semper, and Mohau Modisakeng reference rituals pertaining to the life-cycles of birth and death to express how family ties shape the self. From January–June 2015 videos by Wilmer Wilson IV, Annegret Soltau, and Jonas Englert disrupt traditional head-and-shoulder portraiture through performative interventions.
The Krupp Gallery is one of eight contemporary galleries that opened in 2011 as part of the dynamic Linde Family Wing for Contemporary Art. These galleries present innovative approaches to the exhibition of contemporary art within the context of the Museum’s encyclopedic collections, offering new perspectives and encouraging connections between art of the present and past.
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