Stephan, von Huene
«Dancing on Tables»

The installation space is occupied by four lifesize wood and metal sculptures of male figures from the waist downwards. Three of these computer-controlled sculptures, which are mounted on plinths and resemble tailor's dummies, are dressed in trousers and shoes; the fourth wears only shoes, revealing its mechanical joints and fiberglass of the body. Fourteen large scale black-and-white drawings of male bodies, reminiscent of fashion designs and also depicted from the waist down, hang on the walls behind the figures. Sensors set the sculptures' legs in motion when someone enters the room passing in front of the sculptures. The legs execute a step dance to the speeches of American politicians. The nude figure tries ballett movements to the accompaniment of music by Georges Bizet's Pearlfishermen and George Friderich Händel's Rinaldo. The dancing legs in combination with the drawings create a third level of mise-en-scène in which the shadows on the wall become alive.

Petra von Huene