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Anna Maria Giannini
Staffordshire University

'Intimate Visibilities: Sites of Disruption/Irruptions'

My paper will consider notions of female subjectivity and the body within my practice of video/performance and installation, exploring the elusive aspects of otherness and the position of the viewer. Kristeva's notion of the semiotic chora, where the pre-linguistic maternal stage of identity emphasises rhythmic pulses and bodily forces, will be a starting point for my discussion. My aim is to consider my work in relation to the body and identity, briefly outlining notions of the abject body and how the viewer can experience a sense of strangeness or 'otherness' of the body. I will make references to Bracha Lichtenberg Ettinger's matrixial borderspace and consider notions of being and becoming in relation to Kristeva's notion of the semiotic chora, to further explore otherness and the body, allowing other possible 'in between' spaces to emerge. Within my practice, the materials used on the body serve to highlight the inherent dangers of the female body 'spilling over', where bodily processes threaten its corporeal borders. The use of metaphors such as honey, milk or hair on the body and added manipulated audio, play with the notion of spectacle and disruption. With the added audio, the viewer experiences for example the thickness but also the fluidity of the sound of honey 'dripping'. Notions of visibility, intimacy and strangeness are explored in relation to notions of the public and the private. Other similar performance/video work will be discussed in relation to subjectivity and the body through audio/visual relations and disruptions which emerge as excess.

Bio: A recent MA Fine Art graduate (with distinction), from Staffordshire University, Stoke-on-Trent, UK, earlier video work was screened in September 2002 at the EEC event at Queen Mary University, East London. The event was also a selection platform for the national review of Live Art, held in Glasgow in February 2003. A winner of a thesis prize for best fine art dissertation of the year 1998/1999, I have recently given a presentation of my work at the Whitechapel Gallery, London

<Agiannini35@aol.com>