We Eat the Earth / The World Eats Us

We see a panting dog; there is a ticking sound in the background; a man crouches in a building excavation; the surroundings are dry and stony. A voiceover comes in. The man straightens up, moving with raw and wild gestures. Together with the narration, his dancing tells a story.

In total, we are introduced to six different characters whose lives are interrelated, though the connection is only a superficial one: a stripper is worshipped by a writer who is fleeing from his marriage through the endless sexual adventures he finds online. His wife reflects on her husband’s infidelity at a distance. The other three characters seem to make do with anonymous and virtual erotic fantasies and confused flights from reality. The stories tell of individuals driven by their urges, which are staged as tragi-comic, and embody an unconscious fear: the fear of the emptiness which is temporarily held at bay by fleeting yet intense contact and unreal dream worlds. The feeding of a hungry ego in a world which resembles a building site – raw and fallow. They tell of fantasies, obsessions and no-strings-attached sex, encounters which are all-consuming, but utterly devoid of intimacy. Is this a consequence of our fast-paced, digitized era? Do we really know one another?

Lucy Pawlak’s work investigates different communication technologies which are readily available, but which fail to establish real interpersonal contact. A flight from the here and now. Physical contact which remains superficial, and merely fulfils the emotion needs of an ego turned in on itself, encounters which are nothing more than a series of short moments of satisfaction. (Sandra Reinhardt)

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