adel abidin cleansing

One channel video installation & a painting

Cleansing consists of a cinematic video and a 450 x 800 cm canvas, addresses the idea of total purification, cleansing the people from the unwanted political ideas. The watering hose that sprouts water on the dark bodies. As people are being hosed, colour starts wearing off from the surface of the bodies, as another skin. It drips down and leaves traces on the ground. The ground becomes part of the work, a canvas that is to be exhibited, away from being clean and spotless, it is altered to a canvas painted with the dripping skin color of the victims.

Cleansing main frame composition inspired by the visual composition of Goya’s painting “The 3rd of May 1808 (1814-1815).

Details:

Duration: 00’04’30 min (loop)

Canvas: 450 x 800 cm