"Rose-coloured glasses - a happy or positive attitude that fails to notice negative things, leading to a view of life that is not realistic."
Definition by Cambridge Dictionary online
In her video art installation, Taking Off the Rose-coloured Glasses, Anna Schmid-Peyer prompts the viewers to become aware of bias and asks us to clear the view. Once the rose-coloured glasses are off, we are compelled to reexamine the metaphorical and physical space held by women in our society. Familiar symbols of the feminine, its sexualization, and the resulting power dynamics, serve as a point of departure for more complex questions.
We are invited to reflect on the emancipation process itself and its potential future trajectory. Taking Off the Rose-coloured Glasses offers a personal exploration of this enquiry. What does it mean to reclaim one’s space and how could it be rearranged? Moreover, as the struggle endures, questions arise on what becomes of those who persist along the way. What kind of women, and men, emerge from this immense cross-cultural and generational effort?
The images delve into the collective and individual aspects of the process. As women of today stand on the shoulders of others before them, they continuously revise old manifestos and find new ways to protest their freedom and desires repeatedly subdued. As such, it speaks of power of unity in moving forward. However a personal narrative seeps through as the artist turns to her own roots to liberate herself from places that confined her - places each must discover for oneself, both from the past and within our minds.
Ania Porucznik
VIDEO 1 - IS THIS A WOMAN'S MARK?
1:18 - English.
Performers: Andrea, Felix, Gilles, Manfredi, Paolo, Rafael.
Something that has been associated with women for as long as modern society goes, is the red lipstick.
In this video, the viewer will be challenged to rethink what is considered a woman's mark, or a woman's "attribute", by being presented images of cigarettes, glasses, food, cutlery and napkins with red lipstick stains on them.
Alongside these images are video-portraits of men wearing red lipstick, looking into the camera. A male voice-over repeats the title of the video over and over again.
If a red lipstick stain is now associated with a man, how many other things can we get different perspectives on?
VIDEO 2 - THE UN-FREEDOM PATROL
02:49 - Mute.
Performers: Andrea, Anna, Ania, Maaike, Maria, Petsch, Sonja.
In this video, the figurative position of women in the society, as well as its physical manifestation, is put up for discussion. The sexualization of women. The judgment over women. The controlling of women.
With the society's evolution and growth, I see a simultaneous step backwards when it comes to women's bodies.
On top of the disrespect and dehumanisation, there is a persistent belief that a woman's mind and body are something for others to fantasise, comment or decide upon.
If this was to disappear, would women feel free to express themselves? To move their bodies and speak their minds freely?
VIDEO 3 - RECLAIMING MY SPACE
06:04 - Ambient sound.
Performers: Anna
Draped in transparent plastic the artist moves and dance in the woods of her hometown. A place the perceived as a cage while growing up, feeling constricted and without a voice, with no space for growth.
She is now back to that place to reclaim it as her present-self. With the plastic veils moving around her, taking a physical space, her mind is also expanding.
As the artist puts herself in front of the camera, she showcase an intimate part of the journey into discovering one’s place, both physical and mental.
Hinting that our present space, has been shaped by our past, and we must recognise it, to move forward and change.
VIDEO 4 - CHANGE BY A MILLION STEPS
01:44 - English, French, Italian, German, Polish.
Performers: Ania, Anna, Maaike, Maria, Petsch, Sonja.
As the title suggests the intention of the video is to show how once something is set in motion, more and more similar reactions will happen, leading to a whole new movement.
As women, we cannot stand still. As history shows, it's enough that one of us starts moving to attract and inspire other women to do the same.
There will be pain and struggle, but somebody needs to start and the rest need to follow. United.
The 5 voices in the voice over recite, in their mother-tongue, excerpts based on the work of:
Constance de Théis, Eliza Orzeszkowa, Emilie Lieberherr, Michela Murgia, Rebecca Solnit.
