Masha Godovannaya
»Untitled #1«, 2005
Super8 on MiniDV/DVD, sound, b/w, 4:00 Min.
Sound by LU
Courtesy the artist

March 05 – April 01, 2010

Invited by Georg Elben (Independent curator, Videonale Bonn)

»Untitled #1«, 2005

The flashing traffic light icons mark the start, like a classic prologue. Masha Godovannaya’s video appears to have come from a different time and also from a foreign country – it shows the Nevskiy Prospect in St. Petersburg. Shot on Super8, her images display the characteristic blurred and frayed margins. The editing is effective: by repeating image and sound a number of times, she achieves a rhythmically jerky choreography, distilling the video down to a core of only a few dance steps. The dynamic guitar music stays with us as a catchy tune, diminishing the tristesse of the black-and-white images.

Is it in any way different from a music video? Not really, even if it’s hard to imagine »Untitled #1« showing on MTV. The film is characterised by its dazzling female protagonist and its driving soundtrack – and, with a directness that simply demands attention, it can make its mark on the Bielefeld Society of Arts’ website as well as in its foyer.

Even after the third viewing, the main protagonist makes an ambivalent impression. A young girl is dancing in the street provocatively, hard and at the same time seductive. Time and again, she challenges the observer with a look. The girl is of that precarious age when sexual attractiveness begins to overlay childlike playfulness – an age that has always fascinated (not just) artists. Today, however, the line separating what’s permitted from what’s prohibited seems blurred. Borderline images, whether it’s a staging of Nabokov’s Lolita or Richard Prince’s recycled image of a naked Brooke Shields, are discussed in the arts pages with increasing uncertainty. What is inoffensive, what normal, can art take a greater licence than advertising – and how do we, as the audience, react appropriately – these are the sort of questions underpinning this video.

Text: Georg Elben