Let's get physical

by Sholem Krishtalka

The human body, and our own alienation from it, has an infinite capacity for interesting results. The video and photo works on now at the Optica gallery provide a succinct case in point. Both Breathing, by Heike Mutter and Sandra Sterle, and Game, by Laurel Woodcock, deal with the idea of the human body in different ways, and yet have the same underlying theme of estrangement.

Breathing is a series of photographs and text that asks the viewer to question, and therefore become aware of, their body--one piece almost challenges the viewer to commit suicide.

Woodcock's video installation shows a headshot of a girl playing a hand clapping game. Because we can't see her hands and because Woodcock separates audio from video, there is a profound sense of distance. Both works call attention to some abstract sense of physical alienation and however artists go about it, alienation never ceases to be involving. 372 Ste-Catherine W., #508, until Oct. 13.

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