Universel anæstesivideo 13:50 min. 2025
Universal Anesthesia consists of two simultaneous video projections. One shows close-up images of surgical scars. The other depicts a nude figure, seen from behind, seated on the edge of an old freestanding bathtub. The video imagery is combined with a voice-over that recites edited excerpts from medical records, transforming them into a series of surgical poems. The title refers to general anesthesia, the state in which the body is placed during surgery. The word anesthesia derives from Greek and means absence of sensation or numbness, reflecting the objective nature of medical language. By highlighting both the brutality and the beauty of this language, the work explores surgery as an act that is at once intimate and emotionally complex. At the same time, it frames the necessary transformations of both body and language as they move from a medical context into personal, lived experience.
Other Body Fuglsang Kunstmuseum 2025. Photos: David Stjernholm
Link to excerpt of the video. For access to the full version, please contact the artist.
Photography & color grading: Fabian Wigren. Sound design: Stephen McEvoy. Production assistant: Isabella Solar Villaseca. Supported by Danish Arts Foundation, Knud Højgaards Fond, Overretssagfører L Zeuthens Mindelegat, BKF’s Accessibility Pool. Thanks to Tarkett, Sophienholm Kunsthal, Frederik Saxton-Rørmann and Lene Juncker-Jensen.