The 2-channel video installation (7:30 min) is part of a series of works using performance, text and film to explore various techniques of speaking and announcing. The recording room in a radio studio functions as a backdrop against which to perform two texts. One scene, shot through a pane of glass, shows a series of answers being recited, whilst the speech delivered straight into the camera has a formal structure reminiscent of a call to action or a guideline. Here, both answers and instructions reference daily, yet undefined situations of conversation or interrogation. Stripped of any narrative context, the text passages refer to the possibilities and limitations of the public pronouncements people make about themselves, and the ambivalent intentions of such assertions. Making restrained use of the camera, performance and the position of the viewers, Meunier picks up on the working methods deployed in earlier conceptual video and performance art. In the process however, she creates a sense of distance vis-à-vis her own position in the role of narrator or presenter. (n.b.k.)
documentation:
MARTA Herford, 2010
neuer berliner kunstverein, 2010
