The Cusp of Your Credenza

Anita Delaney &

A newspaper fills the whole frame before the camera zooms out to reveal the woman behind it. She folds up the newspaper, turns to face the camera, and speaks directly to the viewer. The actress wanders through a simply furnished room, coming to a halt before an object, a picture or an arrangement of objects. In the context of the carefully constructed mise en scène, she shares her thoughts on topics such as fingernails and toenails, muffins or body proportions, speaking in a slightly provocative tone. The objects which lie before her often stand in an associative relation to the words she speaks. One part of the room houses large photos of landscapes printed on canvas. In this setting, the woman, constantly followed by the camera, begins to tell us that although we, the viewers, have never been to China, nor will we ever go there, our fingernails and toenails have already been there for a long time. She explains that they have been accidentally eaten by birds, which subsequently flew to China and excreted them there.

Her gestures, facial expressions and her manner of self-presentation call to mind television news or shopping channels. The actress, who reads her texts with confidence and unwavering certainty, uncritically presents a series of statistics and facts alongside dubious claims and her subjective opinion, delivering almost everything in the same tone of voice. In this way, the short film The Cusp of Your Credenza calls into question the relationship between the human body and the objects that surround it. (Randi Terjung)

* We can only show an excerpt of this work in the online archive. For the complete version, please contact the artist.

About the video

Title The Cusp of Your Credenza
Year 2016
Videonale VIDEONALE.16
Length 00:10:27
Format 16:9
Country United Kingdom,
Language English
Courtesy the artist
Specifications color, sound, single-channel video

About the artist

Anita Delaney
  • 1978 in Dublin, IRL.
    Studied at the Institute of Art, Design and Technology in Dún Laoghaire, IRL, and at the Chelsea College of Art in London, GBR
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