Command, Shift, Ctrl: Sexuality, Fear and Desire in the Digitized World

Curated by Wendy Ennes and Kati Toivanen
with artists: Susan Collins, Nigel Jamieson, and Andrea Polli.

NAME Gallery, Chicago

In The Science of Swimming, 7 min video, Genton employs images and text from an 1929 swimming manual to illustrate the way in which, historically, scientific representation of the body has severed much of human experience in the name of objective truth. By employing animation, and by adding text and sound, Genton infuses the static photos with suggestions of touch, motion, sound, smell and taste. Thus, rather than being rendered anonymous, silent and fixed by an objectifying (and masculine) gaze, the swimmer comes to life and tells her own story. Interwoven throughout this work is narration from Kate Chopin's The Awakening . Written in 1899 the book tells the story of a woman whose ultimate success in learning to swim occurs only after learning to trust her own body and not the authoritative voice of her teachers. Her personal journey serves as a metaphor for her sexual awakening and, ultimately, her individual freedom. Similarly, in The Science of Swimming, Genton de-centres the authority of scientific representation and reminds us of the limits of Cartesian dualities that privilege the rational, yet narrow, mind over the multi-sensory and "knowing" body.

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Short Excerpt from 7 minute video The Science of Swimming. © 1993
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