Kevin Space is thrilled to present Maria Gorodeckaya’s solo exhibition “Pulling Flesh from the Shell with an Index” coinciding with the opening of its new space at Vienna’s Volkertmarkt. Investigating dynamics of power that determine female identity, sex and desire through the both affective and affected body, this performative sculptural installation unfolds traces of encounters through which the body takes its shape.
Testing out, peeling off and re-inscribing surfaces that navigate between inside and outside, skin is employed as a boundary-object and as a site of connectedness that is continuously read, written, narrated, touched, cut, remembered and produced. Imprints of high-heeled steps over an ivory-colored round stage made of warmly scented and softly rich shea butter; iron strip dance poles carved, cut, scribbled upon with seemingly vulgar and vehement text and drawings and furnished with glittery jewelry and juicy decor; walls forcefully stripped off context to reveal their multilayered flesh, create an expanded field of conflicted relations and movements oscillating between pleasure and pain.
As both utmost intimate and public thresholds, the various skin-like membranes of this installation map out and defy subtle language and social codes that incorporate regulated narratives of sexual difference and subjectivity. Inviting to consider interfaces between bodies and their environments as constantly made and unmade through socio-political performances, “Pulling Flesh from the Shell with an Index” unfolds attempts to reclaim nuanced bodily positions of enunciation and liberation.
Maria Gorodeckaya was born in Moscow, Russia, in 1986 and lives and works in both Moscow and London. She graduated from MFA Fine Art at Goldsmiths University of London and recently presented her first solo show “You forgot numbers in my notes Travelled seas through my veins through my spine Run through my blood At the pace of a good runner” at Almanac London. Recent group exhibition include “Planned Obscolence” at Miltronic Club Moscow, “Accessing Economies: Engagement & Withdrawal” at Club Pro LA, and “Longshore Drift” by Jupiter Woods at Sorbus Gallery Helsinki amongst others.
