In theory this piece by Mona Hatoum, which uses endoscopic footage of the artist’s own internal organs, soundtracked by her heartbeat, might feel very intimate. We’re being given access to the inside of Hatoum’s body, after all. But this is the body through a medical lense. There’s a clinical distance which serves to make us aware of the material reality of the body in a general sense, rather than a personal one; like looking at an anatomy diagram. Hatoum had wanted to make this piece since the ‘70s, inspired by the surveillance she became acutely aware of when she moved to London. It took her years, and the backing of the Centre Pompidou, to actually find a doctor who was willing to cooperate - most declined on the grounds it was unethical.
In theory this piece by Mona Hatoum, which uses endoscopic footage of the artist’s own internal organs, soundtracked by her heartbeat, might feel very intimate. We’re being given access to the inside of Hatoum’s body, after all. But this is the body through a medical lense. There’s a clinical distance which serves to make us aware of the material reality of the body in a general sense, rather than a personal one; like looking at an anatomy diagram. Hatoum had wanted to make this piece since the ‘70s, inspired by the surveillance she became acutely aware of when she moved to London. It took her years, and the backing of the Centre Pompidou, to actually find a doctor who was willing to cooperate - most declined on the grounds it was unethical.
