Art
#feelme, 2022
In #feelme Marijn Bax observes how the body is displayed on social media and is reduced to a marketing tool that serves the mind. Through the work, Bax explores how images of naked bodies found on Instagram become detached from their personalities. What status do these digital bodies have and how does this effect our experience of the body? The installation #feelme triggers the senses and invites visitors to restore the connection to the body and others.
The installation presents a series of printed fabric works showing the naked bodies. Reduced to mere image and out of touch with themselves and others, these bodies have become lost in the public space. The installation invites visitors to walk among the bodies and touch them. The related audio work revolves around a soundscape narrated by body and mind. The audio work is presented in a closed-off cabinet in which visitors are invited to sit on uncomfortable seats in front of blue squares that recall the fabric works and elude to the ever-present phone screen. Much as visitors are invited to touch the fabric works and as such reconnect with body, the cabinet can only be entered by moving through fleshy pink, skin-like material.
The practice of Marijn Bax (NL, 1981) involves a variety of media, including photography, video, audio and installations. In her work, Bax explores the boundaries of interpretation and often draws inspiration from the stories found in the buildings and spaces in which she works and her interest in human psychology.
Credits
Images: Instagram
Voice: Nik Christensen
Piano: Sebastiaan Bax
Sound: Tijn Hazen
Text: Marijn Bax