Out of Towner
Bodies and Things: Shana Moulton’s Universe
by Leah Sandler
Healing Accent Table., mixed media installation
video was displayed on a rectangular monitor
imbedded in a wooden table a the center of
the stands. In the video, entitled Repetitive
Stress Injuries, Cynthia’s body is subjected
to a surgery in which her internal organs are
replaced with puzzle-like health product logos by a gloved, disembodied hand. Cynthia’s
body evades abjection in its
cartoonish rejection of the gooey reality of our human anatomies, favoring the neutralized
representations of computer
generated and graphic imagery, humorously animated.
–Susan Stewart The effect of the display was
unnerving—watching the vidthe entry of the exhibition, Pill offered me a eo felt disassociating for me, like watching
collapsible chair that folded up into a cane, myself have dental surgery while under the
immediately activating my spectator body as I influence of nitrous oxide.
took in the work.
I continued on into an adjacent gallery which
I wandered into a corner of the gallery contain- contained three dresses embedded with prosI took a day trip from my home in Orlando to ing a white, octagonal set of stands—an ab- thetic devices: Pepto Bismol Immodium WalkSt. Pete to check out the exhibition, and was stracted, anatomical theater. A single-channel er Dress, Eyes Without a Face, and Princess
Culling elements of her video performances
from the language and aesthetics of commodified, New Age healing, Shana Moulton’s trembling and anxious alter-ego, Cynthia, traverses
a universe of ailments, cures, prosthetics, and
screensaver transcendence, constantly seeking
relief. Cynthia continuously attempts to repair
broken containers—most notably, her own body—with ritualistic solutions more visible
than the ailments themselves.
Whether these ailments are
real or imagined is inconsequential, as a constant procession of instantaneous cures
offers health, relief, and peace
of mind. Journeys Out of the Body, at the Museum of Fine Arts in St. Petersburg, presents
an immersive display of video and artifacts that
flesh out the universe in which Cynthia’s vignettes take place.
greeted at the museum by Curator of Contemporary Art, Katherine Pill, who introduced me
to Shana Moulton. Moulton was at the museum rehearsing for a live performance of Whispering Pines 10, part of an ongoing series of
video performances featuring Cynthia, shown
in its entirety at the MFA. As we walked into
“The body presents the paradox of
contained and container at once... our
attention is continually focused upon
the boundaries or limits of the body...”
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