Melanie Manchot
Security, 2005
Filmed outside Ibiza’s superclubs, the work consists of 7 security people, ‘bouncers’, standing in front of the doors which they are hired to work at night, both to protect and select who is in and who remains out.
For Security, the men, in their night work attire, stand outside the club in broad daylight, its doors shut and gates that at night are pathways now bland and inconspicuous. After a period of waiting, the camera observing them frontally, the bouncers proceed to undress, stripping until completely naked, standing for as long as they feel, they can and then getting dressed again. The camera, static, keeps observing them, recording the physical, emotional and psychological transformations these men undergo in taking off a type of uniform and then putting it back on.
Security consists of one projection and seven monitors, one per bouncer, each seen standing in their respective location, as if waiting. The installation highlights the tension between stasis and activity, between presence and performance.
For Security, the men, in their night work attire, stand outside the club in broad daylight, its doors shut and gates that at night are pathways now bland and inconspicuous. After a period of waiting, the camera observing them frontally, the bouncers proceed to undress, stripping until completely naked, standing for as long as they feel, they can and then getting dressed again. The camera, static, keeps observing them, recording the physical, emotional and psychological transformations these men undergo in taking off a type of uniform and then putting it back on.
Security consists of one projection and seven monitors, one per bouncer, each seen standing in their respective location, as if waiting. The installation highlights the tension between stasis and activity, between presence and performance.
