La Culotte de Sapho@123Prague

JEDNA TVA TRI GALLERY, PRAGUE (2018)

petrohradskakolektiv.com – Irène Mélix, la culotte de sapho

“Clubbing on a gay night turns into a glittering party. Among the guests are Olga Rado, Mette, Eri and many other book favourites. The ladies* nestle around the tables, smoking cigarettes, the authors order one beer after another at the bar, while Fräulein Dr. Südekum keeps to her corner, trying not to stick out. A boisterous, familiar air fills the room and chat-ups are whirring around. No-one seems to notice the lone scorpion, which climbs up the wall behind the counter… This is where the women* who love women* meet to flirt, kiss and whisper sweet to one another, to talk, dance and write lesbian herstory.

The audiopiece lavender songs will be released on the opening of the exhibition La culotte de sapho. In the last years, Irène Mélix has been researching the construction of lesbian* identity, mainly in novels and newspapers of the 1920s. Getting to know Alexandra, Gert, Mette and many other figures, browsing through dating apps and lonely hearts ads, looking into the atmosphere of lesbian bars and investigate photos for the expressions of desire, she deals with the question of how to create language and images for lesbian* identity, lesbian* passion and life.”

“Mezi hosty večírku patří Olga Rado, Mette, Eri a mnoho dalších oblíbených knižních postav. Dámy*, uvelebené kolem stolu, pokuřují cigarety, zatímco autorky knih, z nichž tyto dámy* vzešly, si na baru objednávají jedno pivo za druhým. Fräulein Dr. Südekum zůstává sedět v rohu místnosti, snažíc se nevyčnívat. Rozpustilá nálada se šíří, jsou slyšet útržky rozhovorů, šepoty… Nikdo si nevšímá osamělého štíra, šplhajícího nahoru po zdi na barem… Právě sem chodí ženy* jež milují ženy* se potkávat, povídat, tančit a utvářet lesbické dějiny. První uvedení audio díla lavender songs se uskuteční v rámci vernisáže La culotte de sapho. V posledních letech se Irène Mélix zabývá výzkumem konstrukce lesbických identit, především jak jsou zachyceny v románech a novinách 20. let 20. století. Poznala tak Alexandru, Gertu, Mette a mnoho dalších postav, brouzdala seznamkami tištěnými i digitálními, ponořila se do atmosféry lesbických barů a prozkoumala bezpočet fotografii, hledajíc výrazy touhy. Zabývá se otázkou, jak vytvořit specifický jazyk a obrazy, jež by vyjadřovaly lesbické* identity, lesbické* touhy a životy.”

Landscape view of an exhibition room with white walls and ceiling, LED tubes and cables on the ceiling and brown-gray mottled floor. Photographed slightly from the left, the far right part of the room, which is about 50 square meters in size, is separated by more white walls with a passageway. At the right edge of the picture a purple board protrudes from the wall into the room, supported by another one towards the floor. Across several corners, small black scorpions are attached to the white wall of the room at irregular intervals; behind the bar, two photos showing hands hang on the wall above the line of sight. In the back left corner of the room is a projection showing a person in the same room and a chair. The beamer is in a purple box that is on the floor in front of it. In the crop on the right edge of the image is a piece of purple painted wall with a poster. exhibition view, Jedna Tva Tri Gallery, Prague (2018)
Portrait shot taken from the right into the corner of a room. Except for the white wall, which runs from the right diagonally into the picture, the walls, ceilings and floors are gray-brown, concrete-like unrenovated. On the white wall hangs a very large, portrait-format photograph. It shows the right hand of a person who is only blurredly recognizable in the background and is wearing a black T-shirt. In her hand she holds a cigarette, in focus is a silver ring on her little finger. It has the shape of a hand, which is placed from above on the ring over a raw stone. diamond splinter, poster/silver ring, raw diamond (2018)
Portrait shot of a purple wall, in the crop below the gray-brown floor. A large black, white and gray poster is attached to the wall with architectural staples and nails. It shows a print of an advertisement that reads "La Culotte de Sapho" in the center, with a small sculpture of a pair of underpants on a pedestal printed in a black frame below. Around the frame is smaller text, at the very top of the ad is a large ornament reminiscent of a vulva. la culotte de sapho, Archiv Fond Chomarat, digital print (2018)
Detail of the purple bar from the side, on which are several A5 books, the cover of which is slightly unfolded. On the cover is a historical black and white picture of two people in a bar. The white writing on the cover says "lila lieder, lavender songs". lavender songs, books of the audiopiece (2018)
Detail of two collars on a white wall, in the right third of the image in the crop a purple wall. The right collar shows a shirt collar with tie, the left one a kind of blouse collar, which seems to end in the middle in a kind of knotted flower. Both collars cast a small shadow and are recognizable as slightly three-dimensional. collars, paper/carton (2018)
Detail of the two glass display cases, photographed slightly from the left. In the first display case, the chain is clamped between the two upper corners so that the pendant with the scorpion sitting on the glass monocle hangs in the center of the display case. In the left display case, the chain just hangs down to the bottom half of the display case and the pendant is like a chemical structure. The chains are reflected in the glass at the back of the display case. scorpion/monocle and diamond structure, jewelery, Moira Green (2018)
View of a white wall on which a poster is hanging. In the left half of the picture in the crop the upper edge of a leather armchair, on the right edge of the picture in the background another part of the exhibition room with paper collars on the wall. At the bottom of the image are three black scorpions on the white wall. The poster shows the silver ring with diamond stone held by two hands to the camera, behind it blurred a person with black T-shirt, which is shown only up to the nose. diamond splinter, poster/silver ring, raw diamond (2018)
View of a corner of the room with white walls. Across the corner, in A5 landscape format, six white sheets hang on the wall with cut-out figures on them. They are printed in black and white. Most of them are in pairs each, some in tender or erotic poses. By the clothes it is recognizable that they must be historical photographs of different times, for example, the 1920s and 1980s. reserach tool, archive material/paper (2018)
Detail shot of two of the papers on the white wall. The one on the left shows a couple, probably cut out of a 1920s photograph, seen from the front. Both are wearing suits and ties, the one on the right is holding a cigarette. The one on the left has her arm around the neck of the one on the right and is tilting her face toward the other's ear. Both wear short, combed-back hair. The one on the right has her arm on the knee of the one on the left. They look familiar. On the right sheet is a person with angular, fine features wearing a motorcycle jacket and sunglasses, with another person with long, curly hair and revealing, tight dress leaning on her arm. She is slightly bent forward, her pose looks erotic.
Room view of a lecture situation, photographed from behind the audience. The room is dark, the backs of the audience's heads can only be seen in black, the only source of light is a larger projection screen on which the cover of a book entitled "Berlin's Lesbian Women, by Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld" can just be seen. To the left in front of the projection screen is a person with short hair and a track suit jacket, facing the audience and speaking. She is recognizable as the artist Irène Mélix. artist talk (November 2018)
Room view of a lecture situation, photographed from behind the audience. The room is dark, the backs of the audience's heads can only be seen in black, the only source of light is a larger projection screen on which the cover of a book entitled "Berlin's Lesbian Women, by Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld" can just be seen. To the left in front of the projection screen is a person with short hair and a track suit jacket, facing the audience and speaking. She is recognizable as the artist Irène Mélix.