Libido
(2011)

In the video “Libido”, the portrait of the artist eating a chicken can be seen. The act of eating is brought so close to the viewer that sometimes only the red-lipped mouth and a chicken drumstick can be seen, animal and human body parts merging in the act of devouring. It is quite common to eat chicken with one’s hands. When the iSight camera takes the picture, eating turns into gobbling and the woman into a predator. The screen acts as a mirror. Not only does it provide a landscape format for the portrait, but the sitter herself can control the image as precisely as if she were applying lipstick in front of a bathroom mirror. This is the final scene of the video. It closes two different tension arcs: first, the opening scene, which shows a rooster in his enclosure. It is suggested that he was eaten and that the female principle won in the battle of the sexes. The second arc of tension is on the level of an artistic competition. The provocative look of the final scene seems like triumphant proof that the short film was made with attention to detail and sensitivity alone - without any other technical aids. Low technology triumphs over high standards. The female principle wins here as well over a masculine connotated technical area. The film quality of the rooster scene at the beginning is better, but this is of no use to the male animal, the proverbial cock in the basket. This is the conclusion of the video “Libido”.

Anette C. Halm presents and uses the filmic possibilities of the computer as a feminist field of action. She takes over the direction and is her own model. A traditional hierarchy of roles, for instance a division into male director, voyeuristic gaze and female model, is eliminated. An often-male camera assistant, with what used to be heavy equipment, is no longer needed. Now the woman is completely self-sufficient. Recording and image reproduction technology, model and director have probably never been this close. Operated by only one eye, and with one fingertip.

Filmic self-recordings commonly found in social media. Platforms like Instagram, TikTok or Youtube are largely based on content filmed by the users with their mobile camera. Recordings with lower quality refer to a specific subculture, using simplicity of technique as a means to evoke authenticity and the documentary character of the videos, directly separating them from other, often staged publications on these platforms. By taking up this everyday aesthetic, Anette C. Halm simultaneously quotes the value systems and connotations associated with it.

Andrea Domesle, translated by Charlie Stein, with additions by Laura Rehme