Representations of excess in relation to the body in a selection of contemporary visual artworks

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This dissertation investigates forms of excess in representations of the body in specificexamples of contemporary visual art in South Africa and internationally. Representations ofexcess are phenomena that have gained increasing prominence in recent art practice bothlocally and abroad. The discussion is focused on two artworks that are examples of thisincreasing phenomenon of excess in contemporary art: the Swedish video artist NathalieDjurberg's video installation Experimentet (2009), and South African performance artistSteven Cohen's film Golgotha (2007-9).My discussion of the two artworks revolves around the central question: what is the signifyingrole of excess in representations of the human body in contemporary visual art? This centralquestion is asked throughout the dissertation with two aims in mind: firstly, to situate within atheoretical framework the phenomenon of excess in relation to depictions of the body incontemporary art; and secondly, to situate my own arts practice within this framework.The analysis of Djurberg's Experimentet and Cohen's Golgotha is spread over fourdiscussions, each relating to a specific aspect of the representation of excess in relation tothe body. Firstly, I investigate the grotesque body with regards to Mikhail Bakhtin's notion ofgrotesque realism and Jacques Lacan's psychological notion of the fragmented body, orcorps morcelé. Secondly, I examine the 'body spectacle' as a cultural critique of capitalism,and make specific reference to Cohen's use of real human skulls as shoes in Golgotha as acultural critique of capitalism. In this discussion I also investigate George Bataille'sphilosophical enquiry into the notion of expenditure as a critique of capitalism. The 'bodyspectacle' is situated in the context of late-twentieth-century theorist Frederic Jameson's viewof the postmodern and his exposition of the 'waning of affect'. Thirdly, I investigate excessand mimesis in representations of the female body, with specific reference to Djurberg'sExperimentet. Here the discussion is situated within the context of French feministpsychoanalytical theory with Luce Irigaray's concept of the role of excess in mimesis. Thestudy then turns to investigating the experiences elicited in spectators by representations ofexcess in relation to the body. I draw from George Bataille's writings of the function of tabooand Mikhail Bakhtin's insistence on the ambivalence of grotesque imagery to explain my ownobservations on images of excess. Here I argue, in reference to both Experimentet andGolgotha, that excess is characterised by the paradoxical stance of being simultaneouslyattracted and repulsed. Lastly I discuss my own current art practice with reference to thetheoretical framework outlined here around representations of excess in relation to the body.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University