"I am feminist, neo-feminist, post-feminist and alter-feminist."

July 6, 2009 10:14 AM

"If you were to describe me without anyone being able to see me, they would think I am a monster (Guardian video + article), that I am not fuckable. But if they see me, that could perhaps change." While French artist ORLAN's work spans decades and mediums (FR, may be NSFW), she is perhaps best known for her 1990s performance series "The Reincarnation of Saint-ORLAN" wherein ORLAN filmed herself receiving seven different plastic surgeries (NSFW) while entirely conscious.

ORLAN's exhibit caused quite a stir (NYT) at its inception, with art critics such as Barbara Rose grappling with "the disquieting question of whether masochism may be a legitimate component of esthetic intention, or whether we are dealing here not with art but with illustrated psychopathology." Wherever your opinion may lie, it is hard not to be fascinated by this interesting and eloquent (both FR) woman.

posted by nonmerci (26 comments total)

This is why you always request a picture.
posted by Afroblanco at 10:16 AM on July 6

Mm, gonna have to go with illustrated psychopathology. Things don't become less fucked up because you can come up with fancy justifications for them.
posted by mrstrotsky at 10:16 AM on July 6 [1 favorite has favorites]

Is this something I can look at and still be OK for lunch in a couple hours? Because those sewer monsters really ruined more than a couple of meals.
posted by hifiparasol at 10:21 AM on July 6

Hmmm. I like her better than Jocelyn Wildenstein.

I am guessing from her comments about labor, surgery, and pain that she has neither given birth nor been involved (aside from plastic surgery) in any major medical procedures that create a significant amount of pain.
posted by mrgrimm at 10:22 AM on July 6

Chronenberg was going to do a film with her if I'm not mistaken. I believe she was going to be flayed onscreen. Ah, here we go:

Orlan is also working with Canadian film director David Cronenberg. After the latter discovered Orlan’s Carnal Art Manifesto in Linda Kauffman’s Bad Girls and Sick Boys, he was inspired to write the script for Painkillers. The story is about a future civilization in which pain no longer exists. He asked Orlan to play her own part in this film, and she offered to perform her ultimate plastic surgery performance. She would then be shot and photographed while reading - laughing and performing - with her body surgically exposed from top to bottom.

Sounds better than Eastern Promises to me.
posted by stinkycheese at 10:26 AM on July 6 [1 favorite has favorites]

A Life Without Pain
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 10:39 AM on July 6

Man, I bet she's a fun date. I'd totally take her to see a Larry the Cable Guy movie or something.
posted by jbickers at 10:40 AM on July 6

Yeah, this sounds like Bob Flanagan, but with a lot more unnecessary rationalization. Bob was awesome...
posted by FatherDagon at 10:53 AM on July 6

You should be okay for lunch, hifiparasol, unless you are unreasonably squeamish. ;)
posted by nonmerci at 10:59 AM on July 6

You know, though, to take nothing away from the suffering she has to have experienced, I'm not sure she can really take credit for the art, if art there is here. I mean, wouldn't the real artist be the surgeon? She's the canvas, if anything.
posted by kittens for breakfast at 11:04 AM on July 6

wouldn't the real artist be the surgeon?

No, the art here is in the idea and the performance, so the surgeon is basically just playing a part in that.

I think this is much more like Stellarc than Bob Flanagan. Although Orlan has an agenda re: gender politics that doesn't really show up with either Stellarc or Flanagan. Also really interesting is Donna Haraway's Cyborg Manifesto.
posted by avianism at 11:17 AM on July 6 [1 favorite has favorites]

Great, because this is one more thing plastic surgery needs — people with art agendas trying to make the prospect seem even more outlandish than it already is for people with genuine needs.

This is one bit of art that can wait for me.
posted by adipocere at 11:40 AM on July 6 [1 favorite has favorites]

Intelligent Redesign
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 11:49 AM on July 6 [2 favorites has favorites]

In all fairness, adipocere, the surgeries date back to the early 90s...I mostly wanted to post this FPP because I'd never heard of ORLAN before, and I thought the Guardian interview (the first link) was really fascinating.
posted by nonmerci at 11:52 AM on July 6

My best friend was in art school in france when Orlan became the head of his program.

He said it was impossible to have meetings with her because you couldn't stop staring at her horns.
posted by lumpenprole at 11:58 AM on July 6 [2 favorites has favorites]

I hadn't heard of her before and I was expecting much worse from the description in the post. Her work sounds sort of fascinating, even if it's not something I would readily view.
posted by cmgonzalez at 12:50 PM on July 6

MedlinePlus surgery videos + BMEzine [NSFW, generally] + a heaping dose of art school pretension = this.
posted by Halloween Jack at 1:11 PM on July 6

True story; when I was a Ph.D. student at Warwick University, I was involved with running a conference called Virtual Futures, at which Orlan was a guest speaker. She arrived while I was hanging around by the main desk, and said "I'm here to register for the conference." My friend, who was looking after registration looked at her with a bored expression, and then said "Name?"
posted by gene_machine at 2:29 PM on July 6

"If you were to describe me without anyone being able to see me, they would think I am a monster (Guardian video + article), that I am not fuckable. But if they see me, that could perhaps change."

(clicks on link)

No. No it didn't.
posted by Justinian at 3:30 PM on July 6 [1 favorite has favorites]

No. No it didn't.

Oh, I don't know...to be honest, her hair and those glasses are the biggest turnoffs. Other than that, my sense of adventure is like, "Call me!"

I really can't figure out how someone could be enough of an abstraction to themselves to do this sort of thing -- that really is how I see it. She has to be very detached from her body. I knew some cutters when I was around high school aged, and they all talked about agonizing and hesitating and experiencing intense guilt before they made these shallow little slashes. I mean, I don't know how you could do this to yourself and be okay with it. I'm not really endorsing it, I'm just saying it's kind of fascinating.
posted by kittens for breakfast at 4:31 PM on July 6 [1 favorite has favorites]

ORLAN. SHE COMES.
posted by flotson at 5:05 PM on July 6 [3 favorites has favorites]

"the disquieting question of whether masochism may be a legitimate component of esthetic intention, or whether we are dealing here not with art but with illustrated psychopathology."

Van Gogh, anyone?
posted by ZenMasterThis at 5:08 PM on July 6

posted by nonmerci

eponysterical.
posted by flotson at 5:21 PM on July 6

Interesting work. Her [changing genders in translation here] MesuRages are the same as Smoots.
posted by tellurian at 6:03 PM on July 6

͍̳̫͖̠̥̭̭̹̥͖̤͇̼͙̺̖͓̍͗ͥ̒͊̒̅͡o̧̧̲̪͍̼͚ͣ̋ͦͤ̌ͧ̐̉̓͡r̩͚̹͕̲͔͚̗̬͈̟͚̹ͮ́̓̍̑͆ͦ́ͪͤ̈́ͭ̓̋̇ͫ́͢͡͝ͅͅlậ̴̫̻͎͕̪̰̫̳̺͓̠̩̳͒ͭ̋̃̀͢n. s̸̴̜͉̜̫̰̟̼͙͉͇ͯ͛́́̓̎ͮ͗ͧ̔͛ͣ̉͆͛̒͐̇̐̀ͧ͐̚̚̚͝h̵̠͔͙͇̫͉̰͍̥̦̼̞͓̣̲̤̫̟͋̊ͭ͐̈̍ͬ̇ͫ̈̏͡ȩ̸̸̨̺̘͖̱̱̗̂̏̋̏̒͊̿̀̽͑̀̽ͬ̔ͨ̍̒͗̒ͅ ͗̽ͫ̈́͏̳c̻̥ͨ̑ͭo̴̫̮͈͑ͫ͐ͫ̑͑m̲̘̯͉͚̣̘ͬ͐ͫ͋̄e̟̭̮̥͙͟s͙͍͕̜̻͇͂͒ͬ
posted by dirtynumbangelboy at 10:48 PM on July 6

(ftfy)
posted by dirtynumbangelboy at 10:49 PM on July 6