This video shows a part of Rachel Mason’s performance at Kunsthalle Zürich, Switzerland. In this clip she performes “Dzhokhar Dudayev (Chechen Wolfes)”. If you want to see the whole performance, click this link.
Rachel Mason was born in Los Angeles in 1978 and received her BA from UCLA (2001) and her MFA in Sculpture from Yale University (2004). She became internationally known in 2004 with her work “Kissing President Bush”, a double portrait / self-portrait bust that shows her and President Bush in intimate kissing. The work is related to the project “Ambassadors” that explores political power and the exercise of power.
In an interview with Kimberly Brooks at The Huffington Post Rachel Mason explains: “I have a body of work called “The Ambassadors,” which is a sculptural and musical project, and it also involves writing. I have sculpted figurines that correspond to the leaders of wars during my lifetime and I created a figure of myself as an ambassador to each war. It led to my attempting to inhabit the minds of the figures and write songs, which I then asked other writers to do. I have two albums of songs now which were written as though inhabiting the minds of these political figures – the most recent album, “The Ambassadors Volume II,” which includes the actual words of both Jimmy Carter, Saddam Hussein, and Manuel Noriega.”
The CD is available at Printed Matter with lyrics and images in a book designed by Inger-lise McMillan.
Kunsthalle Zürich, Switzerland, February 28, 2008.
> Right-click (Mac: ctrl-click) this link to download Quicktime video file.
Rachel Mason Performance at Kunsthalle Zürich, Switzerland. Full-length version (34:48):