In this video, Brazilian artist Laura Lima talks about her piece MAN=FLESH/WOMAN=FLESH — FLAT, 1997, which was part of the Live Art exhibition 14 Rooms in Basel. In Laura Lima’s room at 14 Rooms, the height of the ceiling is only forty-five centimeters. At the back of the room a physically disabled person lies on the ground, next to a single lamp. To see the work, the viewer must crouch or lie down.

Laura Lima was born in 1971 in Minas Gerais. The artist lives and works in Rio de Janeiro.

Excerpt from the exhibition text:
Since the early 1990s Lima has involved live beings in durational work that runs continuously throughout gallery opening hours, under the equation Man=flesh/Woman=flesh. The artist has constructed a personal glossary to discuss the nature of her works, thus avoiding terms such as “performance” or “performer.” She never appears herself, instructing others to present pieces she has developed. She has worked with children, old people, men, women, and animals to extract an image out of their existential meaning, investigating the boundaries of autonomy and dependence in human action.

14 Rooms: Laura Lima: MAN=FLESH/WOMAN=FLESH – FLAT, 1997. Interview with Laura Lima, Basel (Switzerland), June 12, 2014. Video: Karolina Zupan-Rupp, Heinrich Schmidt.

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