M HKA Ensembles

Video, 00:19:00.

Collection: Collection Museum van Elsene, Elsene.

The Frigate is a video set within a community center in which a group of men, a woman and a cameraman are involved in a peculiar scenario revolving around a model of a black ship. The communication between the men and the woman is entirely non-verbal, creating a series of silent tableaux. A Freudian symbol of the female sexuality that men desire, the ship causes the male characters to behave perversely around the woman, forcing her to engage in poses that resemble those seen in pornographic films. In front of the cameraman, their posturing is disembodied and awkward. Perhaps read as a comment on the normalization of hetero-normative gender roles, The Frigate considers the violent and dehumanised body in mass media. Also shown in the exhibition is the main prop in the video, the model ship, as well as a series of photographs of its different profiles.

The organ music soundtrack is by Eric Thys who also appears in the video (and is available to purchase as a vinyl record at the M HKAshop).