Profile, 2017

Video

In Profile, a work that was conceived and shot in Cape Town in early 2017, Breitz absents herself from visibility before the camera, instead platforming ten prominent South African artists who might equally have been nominated to represent the country. As their collective appearance usurps Breitz’s presence, the implied self-portrait gives way to a polyphonic riff, imploding the very assumptions that conventionally guarantee the genre of portraiture. “My name is Candice Breitz,” the cast of voices insists intermittently, punctuating descriptions of who those before the camera are (or might be): man or woman, white or black, working or middle class…. Veering erratically between descriptors of race, class and gender, occupation and national belonging, the verbal palate of attributes and markers delivered by the artists varies wildly in credibility. Who is here as a self and who is here as an other?

“I’m Candice Breitz, and I approve this message,” the multi-voiced litany concludes, parodying the sentence that American presidential candidates are legally obliged to use as rhetorical authentication of their campaign ads during an electoral cycle. In the context of Profile, however, the sentence subverts the proof of authenticity it is supposed to furnish. Blurring the genre of self-portraiture with the formal language of electoral politicking and self-promotional branding, Profile re-distributes the heightened attention typically garnered by an artist due to a Venice appearance, to a range of fellow artists who – much like Breitz – appear intent on consciously disrupting any fixed notion of subjectivity. Dodging objectification, the artists featured in Profile confront the placatory ‘rainbow nation’ metaphor that is too readily applied to post-apartheid South Africa, with the country’s lived reality. In so doing, they extricate the question of who may legitimately speak for their nation in Venice from the regime of representation to prompt a debate around who should be able to speak in a discussion of the many who may not actually be the subjects when they are being spoken for and about in Venice

Profile entstand Anfang 2017 in Cape Town. Es ist ein Video-Selbstportrait, in dem die Biennale-Künstlerin aus dem Bild tritt, um Platz zu machen für zehn andere südafrikanische Künstlerinnen und Künstler von Rang, die ebenfalls in Venedig hätten ausstellen können. Sie ergreifen an Breitz’ Stelle das Wort und machen gemeinsam das kunsthistorische Genre des Selbstbildnisses zum polyphonen Konzert eines kollektiven Rollenspiels. „My name is Candice Breitz“, sagen sie in die Kamera und bezeichnen sich dann als das, was sie sind oder sein könnten: Frau oder Mann, weiß oder schwarz, diese oder jener. Identität? Ein Portfolio von Attributen und einigen Stereotypen. Authentizität? Ein Album aus Zuschreibungen und ihrer (Un-)Wahrscheinlichkeit. Repräsentation? Ein schneller Wechsel zwischen Kategorien von Rasse, Klasse und Geschlecht, Beruf und Herkunft. Wer steht hier für andere, wer für sich? Wer spricht in wessen Namen?

„I’m Candice Breitz and I approve this message.“ So endet das mehrstimmige Selbstbekenntnis. Die Redewendung ist bekannt aus dem US-Wahlkampf, wo sie in Werbespots die Identität der Kandidaten verbürgen soll wie ein rhetorisches Siegel: „Ja, ich habe das gesagt und stehe zu meinem Wort.“ Doch hier unterläuft die Phrase ihre vorgebliche Beweiskraft. Irgendwo zwischen Selbstparodie, Wahlkampfkampagne und Bewerbungsvideo sammelt Profile das Kapital der besonderen Aufmerksamkeit ein, das seiner Autorin in Venedig zuteil wird, und verteilt es zugleich um auf Kolleginnen und Kollegen, die offensichtlich ebenso wie Breitz mehr Interesse daran haben, ihre Subjektivität zu zerstreuen, als daran, sie zu manifestieren – und nebenbei den Regenbogenfantasien die verzwickteren Realitäten der südafrikanischen Gesellschaft gegenüberzustellen. Dabei lösen sie die Frage, wer eigentlich Südafrika in Venedig vertritt, aus Regimen der Repräsentation und öffnen sie für eine Diskussion darüber, wer eigentlich mitsprechen sollte, wenn von vielen Menschen die Rede ist, von denen dann vielleicht gar nicht die Rede ist, wenn man in Venedig für sie und über sie spricht.

Candice Breitz, Profile, 2017, Consisting of 3 Variations, HD video, 16:9, color, sound, 2:20 min / 3:27 min / 3:21 min, Edition of 25 + 2AP

Featuring Igshaan Adams, Roger Ballen, Steven Cohen, Gabrielle Goliath, Dean Hutton, Banele Khoza, Gerald Machona, Buhlebezwe Siwani, Chuma Sopotela and Sue Williamson.
3 Variations, HD video, 16:9, color, sound, 2:20 min / 3:27 min / 3:21 min, Edition of 25 + 2AP

Credits

Profile was commissioned by the South African Pavilion on the occasion of the 57th edition of the Venice Biennale, with the support of the South African Department of Arts and Culture and Connect Channel.

INDEX:

Representation

Queer Culture

Nation

South Africa

Gender

Irony

Identity

Nationality

Class

Race

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Candice Breitz

**I know you think I’m crazy, but I’m not, I’m not!, 1938-2019**

**I'm Your Man (A Portrait of Leonard Cohen), 2017**

**Working Class Hero (A Portrait of John Lennon), 2006**

**Legend (A Portrait of Bob Marley), 2005**

**King (A Portrait of Michael Jackson), 2005**

Biography

Candice Breitz, born in 1972 in Johannesburg, is best known for her moving image installations. Throughout her career, she has explored the dynamics by means of which an individual becomes him or herself in relation to a larger community, be that community the immediate community that one encounters in family, or the real and imagined communities that are shaped not only by questions of national belonging, race, gender and religion, but also by the increasingly undeniable influence of mainstream media such as television, cinema and popular culture. Most recently, Breitz’s work has focused on the conditions under which empathy is produced, reflecting on a media-saturated global culture in which strong identification with fictional characters and celebrity figures runs parallel to widespread indifference to the plight of those facing real world adversities. Candice Breitz is based in Berlin and, since 2007, holds a professorship for fine arts at the Braunschweig University of Art (HBK) and in the same year was awarded with the Prix International d´Art Contemporain I Fondation Prince Pierre de Monaco. Her work has been featured in international group shows in institutions such as Haus der Kunst, München (2023), Bundeskunsthalle, Bonn (2022), Hammer Museum, Los Angeles (2021), Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebæk (2021), the Jewish Museum, New York City (2020), the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa (2016), De Appel Foundation, Amsterdam (2001). Solo exhibitions of Breitz’s work have been shown at Fotografiska, Berlin (2023), Tate Liverpool (2022), Museum Folkwang, Essen (2022), Kunstmuseum Stuttgart (2016), Kunsthaus Bregenz (2010), San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (2009) , Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2005) among others. Next to various group exhibitions Breitz has participated in biennales in Johannesburg (1997), São Paulo (1998), Istanbul (1999), Taipei (2000), Kwangju (2000), Tirana (2001), Venice (2005), New Orleans (2008), Göteborg (2003 + 2009), Singapore (2011) and Dakar (2014). She was invited to the South African Pavilion at the 57th Venice Biennale (2017).

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