SANDRA STERLE
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SANDRA STERLE
The performative elements, often characterized by a simple dramaturgical axis, or by different social interactions taking place within carefully created settings, are of crucial importance for many projects by Sandra Sterle. While in her video works, as a rule, the actor is the artist herself, the dynamic processes of her collaborative works include a number of participants, and explore the ways the collective representations are made. The artist deals with the question of personal identity, which functions as a kind of a clinical testing ground reflecting broader social relations. “Who am I and which social interactions define and surround me?” this is the key question posed in this process. While answering the question, Sandra Sterle does not present her own inner “core”, but rather creates empty entities populated by dramatic, sometimes awkward characters, with strange personal rituals set in different attractive ambiances, often outdoor locations corresponding with the character´s profile. Sandra Sterle´s works are often based on creating different “personae”. Although such a concept often includes disguise, the artist does not really act, but rather performs, by offering certain gestures; she plays out her intention. This concept is directed toward revealing the “inherited, mediated and unintentional elements shaping a personality” 1. Sandra Sterle mixes documentary with fictional elements and forms her characters in the gap between and at the overlapping of these categories. To realize the Round Around video (1997), the artist borrowed clothes from a peasant woman from the Croatian island of Mljet, and with her made-up, rosy cheeks, meant to indicate a healthy life, ran around an olive tree completely exhausted. Ana Dević
1) Danica Morning Star, Art Gallery of the People´s Museum in Zadar, Croatia |