Docile Bodies (2011) – Steel rod , fabric, 1950’s Alexon coat, coat pieces, remnants, 1950’s steel chair.
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Further information: A guide to the artists’ works by Tiff Oben.
This work continues from Alexon House: Steinbergs (2010) taking ideas from Michel Foucault’s critique of systems of organisation in the workplace, as discoursed in chapters “Panoticism” and “Docile Bodies” within his work: Discipline and Punish: The Birth of a Prison.
Factory systems divide production into tasks that are alloted to individuals according to their aptitude. In the light of my research, it seemed that noone in the factory I studied had understood how to make a whole garment – the limitation and control implicit in this inspired me to make a work that would be resonant of the production line and supervision. The deconstructed elements of the coat and remnants evoke separation and division: paradoxically, the coat seems also as a symbol of protection, style and status.
christinemarfleet 