Katerina Mistal
Stockholm,
Sweden
Katerina Mistal uses photography and installation as the main media in her conceptual work. Mistal’s artistic background is in video and documentary photography. She lives and works in Stockholm, Sweden.
Feminist Artist Statement
Power, invisible violence and various crimes unexposed or exposed in space are subjects that have interested me since I began working as an artist. I find inspiration in news reports on television and in newspapers. I like to faithfully reconstruct the events for myself by utilizing a fictive process in order to expose events in a new light. It is the investigative process itself that interests me. I want to see what happens to a picture one has become accustomed to seeing in media, once it is removed from its original context. Do we take the same distanced approach to real or actual violent events as to those seen on the TV news or when viewing a fictive violent film? My latest project, “Figuranter” (Stand-ins), is just as much a description of a process as an investigation of where it leads. I remove a well-known motif from its context and convert it to a bare replica. In order to investigate the pictorial content I have made a reconstruction of similarly violent events. The installation is composed of 900 figures of wax, portraying actual living individuals who have been 3-D computer-scanned. They are cast in the same flesh-colored polymer-wax that is used to portray the celebrities displayed at Mme. Tussaud’s wax museum in London. The flesh-colored polymer wax figures form small groups around a central person. There are four categories represented: those who shoot a gun, those who are shot, those who shoot themselves and those who stand and watch. In all of the characterizations of the wax figures, it is the same woman who acts. She becomes both a victim, a perpetrator of violence and a neutral witness. I want to see what happens with a description of a well known role associated with a man but represented by a woman. In my works I often use the woman to represent the typically role of a man. To participate in a feminist archive places my work in a very important context and I am honored to be a part of it.
Figuranter /Stand-ins/
The installation is composed of 900 wax figures each of which portrays a real living individual who has been 3-D computer- scanned. I have chosen this digital presentation in order to remain neutral. The digital process is recognizable in several of the figures and I have consciously retained this aspect, partially to maintain the pictorial authenticity that I have reconstructed and also in order to avoid personal interpretations of the material. In casting the figures, the choice of material has played a very important role. I have used the same type of flesh-colored polymer-wax that is used to portray the celebrities displayed at Madame Tussauds wax museum in London. The figures (in flesh-colored polymer-wax) form small groups around a central person. There are four categories represented: those who shoot, those who are shot, those who shoot themselves and those who just stand and watch. In all of the characterization of wax figures it is the same women who acts. She becomes a victim, a perpetrator of violence, and a neutral witness. The role of witness is a recurring aspect of my installations. A Stand-in is a person that represents the victim in a criminal investigation reconstruction. (NE)
Figuranter /Stand-ins/
The installation is composed of 900 wax figures each of which portrays a real living individual who has been 3-D computer- scanned. I have chosen this digital presentation in order to remain neutral. The digital process is recognizable in several of the figures and I have consciously retained this aspect, partially to maintain the pictorial authenticity that I have reconstructed and also in order to avoid personal interpretations of the material. In casting the figures, the choice of material has played a very important role. I have used the same type of flesh-colored polymer-wax that is used to portray the celebrities displayed at Madame Tussauds wax museum in London. The figures (in flesh-colored polymer-wax) form small groups around a central person. There are four categories represented: those who shoot, those who are shot, those who shoot themselves and those who just stand and watch. In all of the characterization of wax figures it is the same women who acts. She becomes a victim, a perpetrator of violence, and a neutral witness. The role of witness is a recurring aspect of my installations. A Stand-in is a person that represents the victim in a criminal investigation reconstruction. (NE)
Figuranter /Stand-ins/
The installation is composed of 900 wax figures each of which portrays a real living individual who has been 3-D computer- scanned. I have chosen this digital presentation in order to remain neutral. The digital process is recognizable in several of the figures and I have consciously retained this aspect, partially to maintain the pictorial authenticity that I have reconstructed and also in order to avoid personal interpretations of the material. In casting the figures, the choice of material has played a very important role. I have used the same type of flesh-colored polymer-wax that is used to portray the celebrities displayed at Madame Tussauds wax museum in London. The figures (in flesh-colored polymer-wax) form small groups around a central person. There are four categories represented: those who shoot, those who are shot, those who shoot themselves and those who just stand and watch. In all of the characterization of wax figures it is the same women who acts. She becomes a victim, a perpetrator of violence, and a neutral witness. The role of witness is a recurring aspect of my installations. A Stand-in is a person that represents the victim in a criminal investigation reconstruction. (NE)
Figuranterna (Stand-ins)
The installation is composed of 900 wax figures each of which portrays a real living individual who has been 3-D computer- scanned. I have chosen this digital presentation in order to remain neutral. The digital process is recognizable in several of the figures and I have consciously retained this aspect, partially to maintain the pictorial authenticity that I have reconstructed and also in order to avoid personal interpretations of the material. In casting the figures, the choice of material has played a very important role. I have used the same type of flesh-colored polymer-wax that is used to portray the celebrities displayed at Madame Tussauds wax museum in London. The figures (in flesh-colored polymer-wax) form small groups around a central person. There are four categories represented: those who shoot, those who are shot, those who shoot themselves and those who just stand and watch. In all of the characterization of wax figures it is the same women who acts. She becomes a victim, a perpetrator of violence, and a neutral witness. The role of witness is a recurring aspect of my installations. A Stand-in is a person that represents the victim in a criminal investigation reconstruction. (NE)
Avspärrat (Cordoned off)
The art work “Cordoned-off” (at the Eskilstuna Art Museum) is centered between the four pillars in the exhibition room. Around them run the 640 meter long film-frieze divided into twenty strips mounted on aluminum plate.The strips create a room- specific installation where Mistal takes up the space in the same way that police “cordon off” the scene of a crime. A site which forever will remain marked by the incident. The event itself will never be visible, we only note the blue and white police cordon band. The broadcast media then creates the story depicting the case itself. Katerina Mistal’s film-frieze suggests what is happening or has happened inside the “cordoned off” area.
Avspärrat (Cordoned off)
The art work “Cordoned-off” (at the Eskilstuna Art Museum) is centered between the four pillars in the exhibition room. Around them run the 640 meter long film-frieze divided into twenty strips mounted on aluminum plate.The strips create a room- specific installation where Mistal takes up the space in the same way that police “cordon off” the scene of a crime. A site which forever will remain marked by the incident. The event itself will never be visible, we only note the blue and white police cordon band. The broadcast media then creates the story depicting the case itself.? Mistal’s film-frieze suggests what is happening or has happened inside the “cordoned off” area.
Avspärrat (Cordoned off)
The art work “Cordoned-off” (at the Eskilstuna Art Museum) is centered between the four pillars in the exhibition room. Around them run the 640 meter long film-frieze divided into twenty strips mounted on aluminum plate.The strips create a room- specific installation where Mistal takes up the space in the same way that police “cordon off” the scene of a crime. A site which forever will remain marked by the incident. The event itself will never be visible, we only note the blue and white police cordon band. The broadcast media then creates the story depicting the case itself.? Mistal’s film-frieze suggests what is happening or has happened inside the “cordoned off” area.
Dam
The picture is a part of the series “Fear of landscape” and was taken at the eastern Iceland. The workers are standing on the edge of the construction site at the Kárahnjúkar dam in Eastern Iceland.
Websites
Contact
Geijersvagen 24
Stockholm,
Sweden
CV
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