Dehumanisation
Dehumanisation (denial of “humanness” to other people) of an individual is a phenomenon that is deeply rooted in the contemporary world – first and foremost in advertising and marketing, but also in everyday life.
It is no accident that the artist has taken to performance – it is a medium in which treating the artist’s body like an object is a commonplace practice. By locking herself up in a cramped cell, the artist dehumanises herself and situates herself on a par with an animal in a cage that is only watched for fun. The work takes up the issue of committing “prohibited acts” on oneself – it poses questions concerning the safety limits of objectifying one’s body.
Are we able to see the existence of this border nowadays? Where should it be drawn? Doesn’t the consent to treat a human being like an object in certain spheres of life constitute such a border?