Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Traces of an imaginary affair

Traces of an Imaginary Affair | 2006
Bjorn Franke likes to explore basic human emotions by creating tools to elicit them. In his latest work, titled "Traces of an Imaginary Affair", Bjorn explores the emotion of jealousy and how some partners use it as a tool to measure how much they are loved or as a means to boost their self-esteem.
Human relationships are often the battleground for all kinds of psychotic disorders and delusions. One of the strongest feeling between partners is the feeling of jealousy,
"which is born in love and which is produced by the fear that the loved person prefers someone else." Littré
The kit contains traces of an imaginary affair. These are tools and probes which leave traces on the body such as bite-marks, carpet burns, and kisses.
http://www.bjornfranke.com/projects.htm

Traces of an Imaginary Affair | 2006
Mixed media | 1 object 335/265/66 | 9 c-prints 400/300
The project investigates how jealousy can be instigated intentionally in relationships, which often serves to bolster self esteem or to test the strength of partnerships. A kit containing a set of nine tools is used as an agent to create an imaginary affair. These tools can be used to leave marks on the body such as bite marks, carpet burns, bondage marks, love bites, scratches and bruises. Probes of perfume, lipstick and hair can be applied to either the body or clothes. The kit enables partners to exhibit their obsessive behavior, a form of psychological warfare, in the most effective way – rather than subjecting it to restrictive cultural norms.

Panic Box | 2004 - 2006
Mixed media | 1 object 960/865/1700 | 3 c-prints 600/450
The Panic Box is an installation that instigates fear and panic through an autonomous environment, in which the control over the situation is restricted. A voice invites the user to enter the man-size box. After closing the door, the user is trapped inside and asked to pass a reaction test in order to open the door. The situation intensifies with the release of a gas which apparently slows down the user’s reaction speed. However, since the test result is manipulated and the reaction speed continuously drops, the only way to exit is to press a panic button which unlocks the door and raises an outside alarm. The machine creates a hopeless situation from which the user can only escape by admitting his feeling of panic.

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