Julika Rudelius

Julika Rudelius

IMA at Ksubi

18 October–8 November 201218 Oct–8 Nov 2012

German video artist Julika Rudelius has interviewed denizens of American high society, fashion-conscious European immigrants, political trainees, and sex-obsessed youths, compiling and editing their testimonials to construct insightful meditations on the roles of fashion, materialism, self worth, and identity in capitalist society. She filmed Forever in the Hamptons, the summer retreat for the New York elite. In this double-screen video, five elegantly attired, well-preserved ‘women of a certain age’ pose around private swimming pools, stroll around their manicured properties, take Polaroids of themselves, and answer the artist’s questions about beauty and ageing, privilege and plastic surgery. Their responses are suffused with unstated fears and anxieties. Inner beauty is paramount, says one woman, ‘although that is reflected by someone’s looks’.

The Institute of Modern Art acknowledges the traditional custodians of the land upon which the IMA now stands, the Jagera, Yuggera, Yugarapul, and Turrbal people. We offer our respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as the first artists of this country. In the spirit of allyship, the IMA will continue to work with First Nations people to celebrate, support, and present their immense past, present, and future contribution to artistic practice and cultural expression.

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