Hatje Cantz, 2000
First edition
Hardcover, 176 pages, 220 x 285 mm
Condition: As New
This is the first book to focus on the controversial performances staged by Vanessa Beecroft, whose work inhabits a realm where the lines between fashion, performance art, voyeurism, and feminist commentary blur. Using live female models as her medium, Beecroft loosely choreographs them to pose uniformed, nude, or barely clothed. Strict rules are imposed on the models' behavior; they are instructed not to engage with the audience and stand for hours without movement or eye contact. The result is an exploration of narcissism, politics, power dynamics, the female form, and the female gaze.
Hailed as a feminist by some, while accused of exploitation by others, the artist's work is often critiqued for being a "post-feminist statement about fashion or pandering to a corrupted way of seeing." As Collier Schorr noted, "Beecroft is interested in the aesthetics of how women look when they are looked at, and her body-conscious projects encourage alienation between model, artist, and audience."
