[ Trailer – GAG ]

gag/gagging, 2017

Video installation, Duration 30’00” loop + Glory holes 194 x 84 x 7 cm Stickers on transparant vinyl, photo print on fabric, wood, metal

Tique Art Space invited Stef Van looveren to develop a new body of work. Gag, the title of the installation in three parts, is a term that describes a cloth or ball that is put in somebody’s mouth to avoid the person from speaking, screaming; out of pain, or out of lust. The artist investigates the thin lines between a victim and an offender, a giver and a reveiver, the dominant and the repressed and therefore also between the artist and the viewer. All the opposites are connected through a relation, a conversation and exchange. the construction of one pole is dependent on its counterpart. The artist speaks of the corrective, which can be imagined as two opposites being each other reference point, so they are constantly recalculating their role and position. The three parts of the installation are referring to glory holes, which create a setting for interaction, very intimate and still anonymous at the same time. It is an abstraction of the sexual act, in which the two roles can be filled with every possible fantasy. The anonymity creates a milieu for stereotypes and even dehumanization. One does not deal with real persons any longer, but a hole being completed by our imagination. – Karen Moser