HELGA WRETMAN’S PERFORMANCE BOSOM ACT

The point of departure for Helga Wretman's performance "Bosom Act," which she prepared specifically for the SCHIRN, is the work of foley artists, who use vegetables, fruit, water, and everyday objects to produce sounds for films and thus make a major contribution to the creation of illusion and the effect of reality in the cinema. The sounds are developed to synchronize with images and scenes: blows with the fist in a fight scene, for example, are underlaid with the sound of steaks being slapped against one another. Like in music or language, there is no visual similarity relation between the medium of representation and what is represented by it; besides, in the context of film the foley artists remain invisible behind the scenes. In Helga Wretman's performance, they make the pop songs composed by Steffen Martin audible and at the same time visible.

In her works, the artist (*1985 in Stockholm), who worked as a stuntwoman herself in films, essentially reflects on the relationship between body and (mental) content. For instance, when in her most recent video "Dave" she has the protagonist develop a digital identify of himself in which he falls in love and in the end kills out of jealousy in the form of digital suicide.

Wretman furthermore attracted a great deal of attention for her ongoing "Fitness for Artists," in which she vitalizes the bodies of artists--in analogy to their active minds--by means of fitness programs. Her works have been shown at the Kunst-Werke Berlin, the Lyon Biennale, the Palais du Tokyo, and in the large-scale group exhibition "Based in Berlin."

The SCHIRN MAG met with the artist for an interview within the scope of rehearsals for "Bosom Act."

SCHIRN MAG: When we spoke about a possible work for the SCHIRN, you immediately said that you'd been thinking for some time about working with foley artists. Where does this fascination come from?

Helga Wretman: I've always been interested in entertainment, and as a dancer I at least know a little bit about this area. It fascinates me when people can do something that other people feel. This gut feeling when you hear a good song or see a movie. But my interest in foley artists always has something to do with my work as a stuntwoman in films. I've always been interested how what I do on the screen is supported by the sound effects that foley artists produce. What I do as a stuntwoman is actually an illusion. When I throw myself on the floor, I do everything I can not to injure myself, even if it looks like I do. I believe that sound in itself is very emotional and has a very instinctive effect on people. When you hear something, it can quickly trigger a memory without knowing exactly where it comes from, because the connection is so abstract.

SM: It's interesting that you connect the performance with your work as a stuntwoman, because in the first place it works quiet differently. You use your body to represent an action, a fall for instance, and that logically means that your movements imitate what's being represented. By contrast, foley artists produce sound effects in a way that is quite different from what's being shown in the scene. I initially assumed that you're interested in the analogy between image and sound. Yet for "Bosom Act" you've now decided to reverse the conventional relation, that is to produce an image from the work by the foley artist for which pop songs were written. Your work no longer serves to create the illusion of a scene but is independent and literally taken to the stage. Can you describe this relation? It's clearly about dealing with semiotic systems.

HW: The craft of foley artists engenders emotions, and I wanted to expose or reveal this phenomenon.

SM: So that it's led out of its invisibility?

HW: Yes, exactly.

SM: What your works share is that they provide the invisible with a stage and draw attention to something that is actually more secondary in the respective context. While the video series "Fitness for Artists" also includes an interview with an artist, the focus is clearly on the artist's body, which in general plays a more subordinate role. The physical plays a major role in your work, including using your own body. Within the scope of "Fitness for Artists," for example, there is a performance in which you're on a treadmill, and people are standing all around you holding wineglasses in their hands, watching you go to the limits of your physical condition. Does that have anything to do with the notion of efficiency?

HW: "Fitness for Artists" is actually a self-help strategy for the art world. It's been proven that workouts release endorphins and hormones in the brain that make you more focused and more creative. And it's also about breaking with the cliché of the artist who drinks red wine and smokes. There are a lot of artists who are mindful of their diet and their body. There are very different formats for "Fitness for Artists." I trained artists live within the framework of group exhibitions, and there are numerous online formats. I go a step further with the interview program, which I developed in collaboration with Baby Darwin, because you immediately see what happens when you move and at the same time have to talk about what you really do as an artist. It's very spontaneous and direct, and therefore efficient as well.

SM: With "Bosom Act" you selected a title that touches the heart of your work on various levels. What does the title mean, and how is it related to the foley performance?

HW: Bosom means a woman's chest, of course, but in Old English it was used more in its second sense: the chest as the seat of the heart and the emotions. It even has a third meaning: bosom friends are two inseparable individuals, often young girls. I also think that the bosom, that is tits, are directly connected to what we understand as "entertainment" nowadays. The word "act" ultimately means something played, not genuine but "performed." "Bosom Act" is therefore a synonym for performed emotions.