_Born in
Munich, Germany
_Lives and works in London
Johari's
Window,
2000
Digital
video / 4 DVDs (color, sound), approx. 20'
Courtesy of the artist and
FACT, Liverpool
view a sequence 2100 KB
Karen Alexander
If we know anything about the illusion of cinema it is, what you see,
is definitely not what you get. This adage is taken to new heights in
the work of Monika Oechsler. In Johari’s Window her most recent creation,
we have multi-screen work in which a group of seven women seated around
a poker table in a cavernous, deserted casino play cards. There are no
hints as to who these women are or where they come from. As we watch it
becomes evident that, these are females playing at being themselves. We
are observing actresses working to outwardly represent themselves to the
mirror of the camera, and the image at least is that of women as women
at play.
Like so much of Oechsler work you the spectator have to take an active
role to see beyond the
surface representation. In so doing he/she is rewarded with clues that
reflect on the dynamics of the games we play. In Johari’s Window
as in her other work, like High Anxieties and High Achievers, what we
see is the result of a process of group improvisation, where her performers
are asked to deconstruct the fragile self and self presentation, in order
that we the audience can reconstruct a sense of unity from the scattered
fragments. Unlike conventional cinema, the reconstructive process is not
about finding a linear narrative, but rather about unravelling the complexity
involved in the very act of attributing meaning. In the case of Johari’s
Window the given clues are pointers towards the identity
and motivation of the characters, which we are free to interpret as we
see fit. Crucial to how we read the game play in Johari’s Window
is it’s installation. Four huge free-standing screens of wide screen
format meet in the centre creating an X formation. On the four screens
thus created, we see the images of seven women reacting to each play as
the camera’s rotating device moves the image around the screens capturing
the progress of the game of poker. As spectators, our reading of these
cinematic images, projected in a darkened space and larger than than life,
is continually fractured as we circumvent the work. As in life, the more
we look the more we change our perception and understanding of what it
is we think we see, in the act of looking. (..)
Please also
visit the archive of Basis-Wien at
http://www.basis-wien.at
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