© Leif Holmstrand/Bildupphovsrätt 2024
Berlin Magic Model Project / Prostitution and Other Activities
Artist
Leif Holmstrand
(Sverige, född 1972)
Date1999
MediumPerformancedocumentation, digital file
DimensionsVarierande mått
ClassificationPhotography, Performance
Credit LinePurchase 2021 (Swedish Acquisitions 2021)
Countries
Object NumberMOM/2021/440
CollectionsRecent Acquisitions, Svenska förvärv 2021
The artwork is not on display
About the artworkLeif Holmstrand’s works often spring from performative practices, as in the sculpture Anadyomene, which is based on the performance Berlin Magic Model Project. Anadyomene, the Greek name for ‘Venus rising from the sea’, was a common theme in art as far back as in classical Greece and was revived in the renaissance. The goddess of love is often portrayed nude, and with her long hair down, in keeping with the ideals of beauty at the time. Her birth is brutal; according to myth, she was born out of the foam that formed when her father Uranus’s testicles were cut off and thrown into the ocean. In Holmstrand’s work, the goddess rises from the depths with a black bin liner over her head and ensnared in an octopus-like net. This net is from the above-mentioned performance work in Berlin, where rubbish from the streets was meticulously woven into it.