by Aoife Donnellan // Oct. 27, 2023
The largest scale solo show to date by Berlin-based artist and choreographer, Melanie Jame Wolf, opened at E-Werk Luckenwalde this month. Curated by Adriana Tranca, ‘The Creep’ is a combination of film, textile, sculpture and performance, following the musings of Wolf’s cowboy character, “The Outlaw.” The exhibition is a continuation of the artist’s “creep studies,” and interrogates the layered definitions and variety of experiences offered by the emotion, noun and verb, “creep.” Inspired by Alison M. Jaggar’s idea of “Outlaw Emotions” and Walter Benjamin’s definition of “mythic violence,” Wolf creates a phantasmagorical landscape that uses humour and hyper-stylised performance to interrogate structural violence, power and everyday tensions lying just below the surface.
Melanie Jame Wolf: ‘The Creep,’ 2023, installation view at E-Werk Luckenwalde // Photo by Joanna Wilk, courtesy of the artist and E-Werk Luckenwalde
The eponymous film installation, ‘The Creep’ (2023), follows The Outlaw as he moves about a minimal set, designed to capture tropes from a spaghetti western. An orange light mimics a campfire, while the background depicts a horizon with the silhouette of a distant mountain. The artist-as-Outlaw has exaggerated features that match a stereotypical depiction of a cowboy; a toothpick between her teeth, broad shoulders beneath a leather jacket with fringed sleeves, and three different kinds of leather belt. It opens with the repetition of the words, “the creep,” suggesting, through its intonations, many possible definitions of the phrase. Sitting at the campfire, The Outlaw speaks to the audience about the endlessness of the horizon, identifying elements that are “there yonder.” His voice is deep, as he repeats a mantra: “Oh! Get away with it for long enough, and it’ll start to look like fate.” The atmosphere is humorous in its austerity. After musing about his surroundings, The Outlaw instigates a quick-draw gunfight with himself, posturing and dancing in unison with his mirror image. At the close of the film, The Outlaw is seen dragging and rearranging a mound of red latex, suggesting the demise and remains of one of his selves. The work prompts a reconsideration of the universality of creeping. It could be the creeping sensation, the creepy person, or the creeping violence that can accumulate quietly before it is addressed.
Melanie Jame Wolf: ‘The Creep,’ 2023, film still // Courtesy of the artist
Many of the props featured in the film are exhibited as artworks in the Turbine Hall, alongside a collection of ceramic tongues. The shiny glazed clay objects are unnerving in their isolation, both from the other works and in the way they are untethered to any body. Across the room, a large curtain of red latex is draped as if to mimic a lolling tongue, as well. The mountains previously on the horizon in the film are here too, one small, ‘Another Mountain’ (2023) and the other, looming large behind it, titled ‘Another Mountain Still’ (2023). The balled-up latex textile seen at the finish of the film appears as an unknown entity on the floor of the gallery. The materiality of the textile work feels almost forensic, designed to repel or disguise. Another video still in the adjacent machine room features a cropped image of The Outlaw’s eyes during the quick-draw gunfight, inviting visitors to confront the character again.
Melanie Jame Wolf: ‘The Creep,’ 2023, film still // Courtesy of the artist
Melanie Jame Wolf: ‘The Creep,’ 2023, installation view at E-Werk Luckenwalde // Photo by Joanna Wilk, courtesy of the artist and E-Werk Luckenwalde
Wolf cites Walter Benjamin’s concept of mythic violence as an inspiration for the work. Benjamin’s definition of oppressive power can be understood as being accumulated and maintained by disingenuously performing itself as natural law. Wolf’s work examines this claim by performing stereotypes while drawing attention to their artificial construction. The two-dimensional mountains are unfinished, exposing the fallibility of something traditionally viewed as monumental and imposing. The Outlaw’s appearance is constructed with exaggerated makeup and artificial shoulder pads, highlighting his reliance on the cosmetic threat of violence rather than any true action.
Melanie Jame Wolf: ‘The Creep,’ 2023, installation view at E-Werk Luckenwalde // Photo by Joanna Wilk, courtesy of the artist and E-Werk Luckenwalde
Wolf staged the performance ‘Ballads of Outlaw Feelings: a text, a song, a dance’ (2023) during the opening of the exhibition, taking place in the Turbine Hall amidst a full audience. Wolf appeared as The Outlaw alongside collaborator Justin F. Kennedy, who was also dressed as a cowboy. Mimicking one another’s movements, they sang “Oh! Get away with it for long enough, and it’ll start to look like fate” to each other in increasingly outlandish voices. It finished with a synchronised dance between the pair, as they counted the rhythm aloud. The reconfiguration of aspects of the film work in the performance illuminated unexpected themes. By staging the performance amongst static sculptural figures and audience members, Wolf highlighted the interdependence between observation and performance, exposing themes of agency and power. The audience rearranges itself in space in relation to the roaming performers, making room for the caricatures. Confrontation is at the centre of the performance, as the outlaws navigate space, people and objects with a general sense of distrust. They move stealthily, considering their environment, echoing each other’s voices.
Melanie Jame Wolf: ‘The Creep,’ 2023, film still // Courtesy of the artist
Wolf’s background in choreography and performance comes to the fore in this exhibition. Her combination of impersonation and humour succeeds at drawing us in, and her use of repetition throughout the show works to subtly but convincingly re-contextualise the visual and textual language of power. The works complement each other, building a world of seedy characters who clearly have something to hide.
Exhibition Info
E-Werk Luckenwalde
Melanie Jame Wolf: ‘The Creep’
Exhibition: Oct. 21, 2023–Feb. 10, 2024
kunststrom.com
Rudolf-Breitscheid-Straße 73, 14943 Luckenwalde, click here for map
