between unyielding limits and nearly infinite freedom

Videoinstallation

Plexiglas, glass, wood, A3 and A4 prints

2021

Closely intertwined conversations flow like subtitles onto oversized forms enclosed in Plexiglas. They hardly allow a firm hold of clear, definite identities beyond the fact that all, for diverse reasons, came to use self-given names for themselves. Navigating between names made a given and a drive for agency, the speakers evoke their experiences, addressing questions, struggles and possibilities opened by their choice to rename themselves.

The forms themselves, manifesting the often heavy bureaucracy involved for a legal name change in each participant’s country of origin, are printed out mirrored, thus rendered inaccessible and only decipherable in transparency.

image credits

Jiye Lee (1), Ana Rodriguez Heinlein (2, 3), Eddie de Goër (4)