RESUSCI ANNE
2019/2020
video essay Resusci Anne (7:38 min)
video bodybag (11:09 min)
wall drawings
Satin Scroll (photoprint on satin)
partslist (evidence board)
Zine 16 pages + print (edition of 100)
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Two young women – separated in time, connected by tragedy.
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»An endless history in a single thing. Escorted to climax by toymakers, doctors, pathologists, photographers, painters, writers, filmmakers, musicians, and a thousand other men I won't mention here.«
L'Inconnue de la Seine: At the end of the 19th century, the unidentifiable body of a young woman is recovered from the Seine, around whose supposed suicide numerous myths entwine to this day. Later known as the Unknown from the Seine, the death mask of her face achieves great popularity. The combination of tragic fate and mysterious circumstances of death make the mask a popular furnishing object, souvenir and mass product. As the ideal projection surface, she is the muse for an entire generation of male artists and literary figures of the 20th century.
»Saving lives by kissing.«
Half a century later, a toy manufacturer named Asmund Laerdal turns the face of the Unknown woman from the Seine into the template for a groundbreaking invention: Resusci Anne. Also known as Rescue Annie, Resusci Anne is the first standardized resuscitation manikin used to teach and train cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) worldwide.
»Annie, are you okay? Are you okay, Annie?«
»A line I read on the Internet hits me hard.«
In July 2019, the murder of a Russian travel blogger and aspiring doctor shook the media. The young woman’s lifeless body is found in her travel suitcase. For a short time, her fate is a viral topic worldwide, leading postmortemly to a doubling of her followers on Instagram. When the investigation unveils that the young woman has been financing her opulent lifestyle through a double life as an escort, she faces intense criticism in the Russian media. In one of Russia’s highest-rated talk shows, countless out of the total 651 Instagram posts are examined for alleged connections.
What unfolds through the fragmented synchronization and intertwining of these two narratives?
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A suitcase, a found body, the mask, flowers, Instagram followers - fragments that swirl around and can hardly be grasped.
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»Well too many pictures to look at.«
The anachronistic montage of both narratives makes both identities fluid and merge into a single mythical and allegorical corpus.
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The wall drawings are taken from the original instruction manual and show hands dismantling doll parts. By extending the fingernail, formerly male hands are read as female hands. In addition to the modified drawings, a logo was created and modified based on the original Laerdal Medical logo.
