ALI PROSCH

My artistic practice is comprised of the disciplines of video installation, performance and drawing. By constructing sets and activating those with filmic imagery, or building objects generated from the memory of a space, the work consistently responds to site. Be it with an airstream trailer, bedroom, landmark hotel or national forest my artworks treat place as a means to investigate the complexities of time and space, gender constructs and the body in motion.

The representations of women have consistently been a motivation in my work. Often depicted as violent, psychosexual and humorous they directly confront the conventions of femininity. Formal strategies such as repetition, withholding and fragmentation facilitate a portrayal of subjects who represent an exception to the canons of female tradition. From intentionally falling down to farting and humping castles the women in my videos subvert any notion of the female archetype.

In addition to feminist concerns, I am equally engaged in the social productions of desire, human relationships and the illusions thereof. Mise en scene is a tool I frequently use to sift through the fantasy dimension already imbued within reality. I’m inspired by the theories of Jean LaPlanche and Jean Bertrand Pontalis in which they assert that fantasy is the setting in which desire is produced, not the object of desire. The significance of the mise en scene lies upon the cultural stage where social identity, the unconscious, and imagination are fused together. I intend for my work to be positioned within this context and provide the viewer an experience that is both culturally and viscerally charged.