With the democratization of photography and the rise of social media, most exhibitions are viewed online rather than physically. I became interested in the effect this development had on art and exhibitions. I started thinking about the intersections between photographing a body and photographing an exhibition. What is the right angle for a selfie? And what is the right angle for an installation shot of your exhibition? What are the intersections between foundation make-up and the Modernist white wall? I started to see that Modernist ideal of the white cube as an idealized and fetishized body on which clothes and jewelry can be hung for sale. At the same time, I thought about the absence of female authors in Western art history, their presence as nudes, models and the female-dominated contemporary celebrity and consumer culture.

With SWEAT I wanted to create a parody on the opening of an exhibition by approaching this situation in a self-referential way. By working with three actresses who's dress resembled the art works installed in the space and who's behaviour resembled the behaviour of the other visitors, they opened up the possibility of the other visitors as co-performers and the exhibition as a decor for the social situation/theater play.

This project is made possible with a generous support of AFK, Amsterdams Fonds voor de Kunst