Hybris II

Slime, like mud, is a substance close to alchemical prima materia. Slime, which in the first place is something disgusting, disgusting, or unclean – something we are afraid to touch. Slime belongs to the group of liquid substances that evoke hard-to-define fears of contagion, like, say, pus or mucus – which, incidentally, is the closest thing to slime. However, the slime used by Jana Orlova is, in contrast to the above, rainbow-colored; it is a child’s toy. It combines both disgust and attraction, which the artist accentuates by letting the slime run down her body, creating random temporary images and compositions. During the performance in Chicoutimi, the artist developed the theme of beauty contests. She stood in a white bodysuit and high-heeled pumps on a table that was more an allusion to a plinth than a stage. She thus became an object to be judged, to be evaluated. Slime, though brightly colored, remains slime, and the parade of the female body thus easily becomes a strange entertainment in which onlookers are involved. After them, the artist began to throw the slime she had collected from her body, inviting them to continue the game.

https://inter-lelieu.org/editions/riap-2022/

RIAP (Rencontre internationale d’art performance), Le Lobe gallery, Chicoutimi, Canada, 18.8. 2022, photo Samuel Snow.