Sorry Mister

Description

"The video was created during a live performance at the Art Fair Cologne in the year 1974. The artist, dressed in tight sport clothes, stands on a small stage and hits her right hand against the inside of one of her thighs. This procedure is accompanied by the rhythm of the classic pop-songs by Brenda Lee, whose text is determinant for the meaning of the piece.
During the ten minutes in which the artist subjects herself to this action, the skin of her thigh changes colour and turns dark. The video clip shows only this part of the body, the thigh and the progression of the self-inflicted injury. With this ironic and also absurd gesture Ulrike Rosenbach refers to the masochist context of the piece and thereby to the classic attitude to life which society has imposed on the image of woman." (Source, artist's website)

"The video was created as a live performance at the Cologne art market in 1974.
The artist stood on a small stage, dressed in a skimpy sports suit, and hit the inside of her thigh with her right hand to the rhythm of the classic pop song by Brenda Lee, which is also the accompanying sound of the video piece. In the ten minutes in which the artist undergoes this procedure, the skin on her thigh changes color and turns blue. The video recording shows a section of the body of the thigh.
The ironic and absurd gesture points to the masochistic content of the world-famous song and thus to the classic masochistic attitude to life that society has imposed on women. This work by Rosenbach should be seen in the context of other works from the 1970s, in which the artist dedicated herself to the critical representation of cultural clichés and outdated images of women in society."
(Source: Gerhard Glüher (ed.), Ulrike Rosenbach : Wege zur Medienkunst 1969 bis 2004, Köln, Wienand, 2005, p.218.)

View the work on LIMA's website

Publications and Periodicals which reference the work

Gerhard Glüher (ed.), Ulrike Rosenbach : Wege zur Medienkunst 1969 bis 2004, Köln, Wienand, 2005.

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