Reproduire pour déconstruire : le paradoxe de l'engagement dans la série Body techniques de Carey Young
British artist Carey Young’s Body Techniques (2007) series was created in the context of a residency at the Sharjah Biennal, in the United Arab Emirates. The eight large-scale photographs of the series depict the artist, dressed in a business woman’s attire, reenacting eight famous works associated with conceptual art. The backdrops to these actions are unusual and futuristic-looking landscapes from in and around the cities of Dubai and Sharjah. This analysis attempts to demonstrate the paradoxical essence of the series, which calls into question the political status that Young claims for her artwork. The paradox unfolds through three axes, which are used to structure this investigation: the varied mediations between Body Techniques and the artworks it is inspired from, the deconstruction of the landscape as “medium”, and the active role played by the photographic apparatus. This detailed examination of each of the paradox’s occurrences serves to reveal Body Techniques as an exemplary embodiment of the double bind presiding over any work of political contemporary art: that which allows artists to criticize the system they participate in, but also constrains them to participate in the system which they criticize.
Body Techniques Carey Young photography landscape sociology of art political art