Welcome


2004

10:16



The videos «Welcome» and «Bottomup» is a feminist side of Begalska’s work. «Feminism» is in quotation marks here, because Begalska is far from the didactic criticism of male domination, and of the «lustful gaze», which supposedly humiliates and objectifies women. Here we are dealing with an ironic criticism of the criticism itself. She views authoritative gender relationship in a postlacan way, turning it inside out, and into a relationship of the erotic contract. The artist becomes a voluntary «victim» of a black English teacher,
who birches her with a rod for her mistakes. At first glance, there is a standard set, of reasons to bring an indictment: the «teacher-student» relationship, physical violence, the man’s skin color, associating him with Othello, the dialogue content: “Who is your father?”-” Jesus “, which hints at the «phallocentrism» of the European culture. But in this role play not everything is as simple as it seems: it’s hard to accuse the teacher because of the pleasure of the student. The tension of the sadomasochistic scene is relieved by the image of a little girl , who is watching it bursting into laughter. Her reaction sets off the woman’s fear of making a mistake and being punished for it, although it is evident , that she makes mistakes precisely, because, she wants to be punished.