Condition Report

Formal gestures, calculated routines, dialects, a certain way of speaking—personalities are in many ways a form of semantics. The character Roberta Breitmore demonstrates this very clearly: originally developed by artist Lynn Hershman Leeson and embodied over a ten-year period, she is an invented character, but by no means fictional. As the title suggests, “Condition Report” is an inventory and condition report of this myth, from Roberta Breitmore’s introduction in 1973 to her death in 1978. The work does not approach her psychologically, but rather understands Roberta Breitmore as a score: material data, such as her reception, aesthetic and haptic impressions, (artistic) intentions, and material semantics, are processed into a script. Strictly speaking, all manufactured materials tend to self-destruct sooner or later. They strive to reach the state of lowest energy. “Condition Report” updates Roberta Breitmore and formally adopts her vocabulary of movement. “Condition Report” can thus also be read as a reflection of contemporary approaches towards identity (or identities), alter egos, poses, and images of the self and others.

Lena Appel, Rachel Ashton, Anneliese Ostertag, Amina Szecsödy

• Installation
• Film

Performances

• 06.05. - 15.05., Festival der jungen Talente, Frankfurter Kunstverein