Push-Ups
Push-Ups
Push-Ups

Push-Ups

2005 – video projection on wall

The viewer stands in front a well-built black man wearing blue shorts, who is tirelessly doing push-ups in front of a white background. At the same time, a graphic element - a black, jagged image mask - corresponds with his movements, rising and falling in the same rhythm and at the same angle.

The athlete is focused on his body, but glances in the direction of the viewer every now and then. As in the video projections “Push-Up Twins”, “Hercules” and “Bodybuilder”, this work also addresses the relationship between an active individual toiling away at a demanding physical activity and the passive, voyeuristic viewer.

The work was first shown publicly as part of the solo exhibition “Body-Bilder” (Body Images, 2005), where it was projected onto a section of wall beneath a staircase on the lower level of the Galerie Gabriele Rivet in Cologne.

Actor: Ephrem Rwahanna