Vanessa Beecroft - Biography

The reactions are violent every time. The performances staged byVanessa Beecroft generate feelings among her audiences ranging between enthusiasm and disgust.

The artist, born in 1969 in Genoa, has been displaying her "tableauxvivants" since the early nineties. They feature women in disturbingposes, their positions in the room meticulously arranged by Beecroft.They usually wear only underwear, a cap, or high-heels. Several of theperformances take hours. The artist has soberly numbered them. VB68 is the title given to her famous performance in MMK Frankfurt in November 2010. 20 young women stand in high heels, wearing blonde, brown, or red wigs. Their feet ache, the veins on their arms and legs made visible in the coolness of the room. They are shaved or hairy, skinny, fat, or flat-chested. Some of them wear bright yellow pants. "Stand still! Be distant! Forget, that you are naked! " drones an off-stagevoice to them. It is monotonous, yet penetrating.

"By maintaing uniformity among her models, the archetype of the naked woman is made all the more visible."

Beecroft's work is about the observation of the feminine - aboutself-reflection and the view from without. By maintaing uniformityamong her models, the archetype of the naked woman is made all themore visible. It forces the audience to abandon the role of theobserver and to become part of the scene. The boundaries between theviewer's own world and the external world become blurred. Strangenessis the extension of what is proper to oneself, according to Beecroft.She documents these scenes on film and in photographs.

Vanessa Beecroft - Exhibitions

Vanessa Beecroft has staged her performances at the Biennale inVenice, the Biennial in Sao Paolo, the Guggenheim Museum in New York, the National Gallery, the Gagosian Gallery in London, the Kunsthalle in Vienna, the Neue Nationalgalerie Berlin, and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney, among other places.

Her works are included among numerous public collections including the Fotomuseum in Winterthur, the MaMbo in Bologna, and the Schauwerk in Sindelfingen. Private collections such as The Broad Art Foundation of Santa Monica, the West Collection of Oaks, the Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary of Vienna, and the Noma Foundation of Rome have already bought works by Beecroft.

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