© Michaela Melián / VG Bildkunst
Life as a woman, 2003
Wood, silk taffeta, 400 x 50 x 105 cm
Hand-print on wall, 2 stamps, each 30 x 16 cm
Installation view, Kunstverein Springhornhof, Neuenkirchen, 2003
Photo: Kunstverein Springhornhof
Life as a woman, 2003
Hand-print on wall, 2 stamps, each 30 x 16 cm
Photo: Michaela Melián
Historical research has informed much of Melián's work of the last decade, which often pays tribute to women whose achievements have been misrepresented or forgotten. Life as a Woman, Hedy Lamarr (2001), for example, is a homage to the famous actress remembered for being the first woman to fake an orgasm on screen in 1933 and who later became a Hollywood icon. What is less widely known is that Lamarr invented the technique of 'frequency hopping' and donated the patent to the US army in 1943. Initially conceived as a safe method for the remote control of torpedoes, the technology was subsequently used to encode radio communication. Without it there would be no mobile phones. These facts were given in a short wall text. Images of Lamarr bathing nude and dressed in a glamorous robe were repeatedly printed on to the wall with rubber stamps to form a frieze. At the centre of the space was a wooden structure with a silk cover shaped like a submarine. The frailty of the construction stood in sharp contrast to the bombast of conventional monuments. The piece was a monument to Lamarr, but one that called into question the very idea of monumentality.
excerpt from
Jan Verwoert: review, Kunstverein Springhornhof
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