ORLAN
©image: M HKA
° 1947
Lives in Los Angeles (US), lives in New York (US), born in Saint-Etienne (FR), lives in Paris (FR).
ORLAN (°1947) studied painting in the sixties and dived into the French art world with photographic Body Sculptures and performances that focused on her own body as a physical and mythical manifestation of the female.
ORLAN formulates strong gender positions and is keen to achieve precise and clear communication. Her artwork is literal and legible. At the same time, it connects with powerful ‘basic layers’ of human culture, such as myths, rites, body and instincts, which corresponds to what Freud called, in his attempt to categorise the unconscious, Verdichtung and Verschiebung.
ORLAN’s work questions the collective unconscious expectations of what the female body and the female mind should be. In recent years, she has been increasingly identified with her use of surgery, and the changes to her own body as an artistic medium, especially with the videos and the permanent physical results of her Surgery Performances (1986-1993).
Nevertheless, her place in recent art history was already assured by the series of MesuRAGE, performances she started in 1968. Mesurage means 'measuring', while rage can both refer to 'mad rage' and 'doing your best'. The frequent use of easels and pieces of cloth at the beginning of these actions is a clear reference to painting. And it is said that the bed linen fabric comes from ORLAN's trousseau – an equally clear reference to traditional models of femininity.
In the summer of 1980, ORLAN enacted a remarkable performance at the Place Saint-Lambert in the historic city centre of Liège. Over a stretch of four days ORLAN physically committed herself to the preservation of the square, under siege by an ill-considered urban development project. She witnesses the arrival of a bulldozer, the same machine used at the time to demolish the square, and allows it to move her body like rubble from one place to another. Her objective in having herself lowered into the bulldozer's blade is to physically embody a social issue. She looks at her gesture as a resistance at the margins, in a pose that alludes to the Statue of Liberty.
ORLAN uses her own body in these performances to act as a gauge for two types of objects: institutions and streets named after men. The setting of her performances are unique: they are performed without an audience, but rather with witnesses who describe them afterwards. Lying on the ground, ORLAN measures the length of the public space, to be documented after, but also notices the by-products, the dress itself that she is wearing to be washed out after, with rinse water mingled with dirt that in turn will also be stored. The signature of the witnesses becomes a different final form, and there are forms of memory, and other by-products, e.g., the ORLANcore, a measuring instrument measured to ORLAN's height, or life-size images of her accompanying the presentation of the documents.
Media
>'ORLAN in 700 words', 2012
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>ORLAN in conversation with Liliane Dewachter and Sophie Grégoir (M HKA) about 'ORLAN'.
> ORLAN, MesuRAGE du Vatican Roma, 1974, 1974.Print, ink, paper.
> ORLAN, MesuRAGE du Vatican Roma, 1974, 1974.Performance.
> ORLAN, MesuRAGE du Centre George Pompidou Paris, 1976, 1976.Print, ink, paper.
> ORLAN, MesuRAGE de la Rue Lamartine Mâcon, 1976, 1976.Print, ink, paper, 50 x 75 cm, 75 x 50 cm.
> ORLAN, MesuRAGE de la rue Chateaubriand, Nice, 1976.Performance.
> ORLAN, MesuRAGE du concert Fluxus au théâtre municipal Nice, 1977, 1977.Print, ink, paper.
> ORLAN, MesuRAGE du Centre George Pompidou, Paris , 1977.Performance.
> ORLAN, MesuRAGE de la Neue Galerie Aachen, 1978, 1978.Print, ink, paper.
> ORLAN, MesuRAGE du Musée St. Pierre Lyon, 1979, 1979.Print, ink, paper.
> ORLAN, MesuRAGE du Musée St.Pierre, Lyon, 1979.Performance.
> ORLAN, ORLAN-CORPS, remake de l’oeuvre exposée à l’ICC en 1980, 1980-2012.Print.
> ORLAN, Statue de la liberté – pose finale de la performance du mesuRAGE Remake des oeuvres exposées à l’ICC en 1980, 1980-2012.Print.
> ORLAN, MesuRAGE de l’ICC Anvers, 1980, 1980.Print, ink, paper, 50 x 75 cm, 75 x 50 cm.
> ORLAN, MesuRAGE de la place St-Lambert Liège, 1980, 1980.Print, ink, paper, 50 x 75 cm, 75 x 50 cm.
> ORLAN, L’étalon ORLAN-CORPS, remake de l’oeuvre exposée à l’ICC en 1980, 1980-2012.Object.
> ORLAN, MesuRAGE de la place Saint-Lambert, Liège , 1980.Performance.
> ORLAN, MesuRage de l'ICC, Anvers, 1980.Performance.
> ORLAN, MesuRAGE du Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum New York, 1983, 1983.Print, ink, paper, 50 x 75 cm, 75 x 50 cm.
> ORLAN, MesuRage du Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New-York , 1983.Performance.
> ORLAN, ORLAN - Measurages (1968-2012) Action : Orlan-Body (Institutions and street measurements), 2012.Book, ink, paper, 29.7 x 21.2 cm, 63 p., language : English, Dutch, French, publisher : Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst, Antwerpen, ISBN : 9789072828460.
> ORLAN, Une analyse de l’ORLAN-CORPS pendant le mesuRAGE du M HKA, 2012.Other.
> ORLAN, Une analyse de l’ORLAN-CORPS pendant le mesuRAGE du Andy Warhol Museum, 2012.Other.
> ORLAN, De la mesure à la démesure, 2012.Object.
> ORLAN, Plaque commémorative, 2012.Object.
> ORLAN, Le petit chevalet montrant le constat complété et le flacon, 2012.Object.
> ORLAN, Le Bodymedia bracelet, 2012.Object.
> ORLAN, MesuRAGE du Andy Warhol Museum Pittsburgh, 2012, 2012.Installation, dvd, variable dimensions.
> ORLAN, MesuRAGE au Musée Andy Warhol, Pittsburgh, 2012.Performance.
> ORLAN, Robe du MesuRAGE du M HKA, 2012.Object, cotton.
> ORLAN, MesuRAGE, M HKA Antwerpen [MesuRAGE du M HKA, Anvers ORLANCORPS - ORLAN], 2012.Performance.
> ORLAN, MesuRAGE du M HKA Antwerpen, 2012 (photographic documentation) , 2012.Print, ink, paper, 111 x 164 cm, 164 x 111 cm.
> ORLAN, MesuRAGE du M HKA Antwerpen, 2012, 2012.Film, 00:47:00.
> ORLAN, L'étalon ORLAN-CORPS.Mixed Media.
> ORLAN, La robe.Object, linen.
Exhibitions & Ensembles
> Exhibition: Dear ICC – Aspects of Contemporary Art in Belgium 1970-1985. 18 December 2004 - 27 February 2005.
> Exhibition: EXTRA MUROS: Geel – Middle Gate II – The Story of Dymphna. 15 September 2018 - 04 November 2018.
> Exhibition: Orlan. 10 May 1980 - 06 June 1980.
> Exhibition: ORLAN - MesuRAGEs. 05 October 2012 - 20 January 2013.
> Exhibition: Superdemocracy – The Senate of Things. 01 October 2017 - 31 October 2017.
> Exhibition: The Collection. 28 April 2017 - 31 December 2021.
> Exhibition: The collection XXXIII – The Collection as a Character. 07 June 2013 - 22 September 2013.
> Exhibition: When Faith Moves Mountains. 17 July 2022 - 09 October 2022.
> Exhibition: Worth Fighting For. 14 November 2022 - 14 December 2022.
> Ensemble: humor & tragedie [humour & tragedy].
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> Ensemble: Individualism.
> Ensemble: MesuRAGEs.
> Ensemble: M HKA_DEFAULT_PUBLICATIONS.
> Ensemble: Middle Gate.
> Ensemble: NUCLEUS.
> Ensemble: Oeuvres & Fétiches.
> Ensemble: ONDERZOEK / RECHERCHE / RESEARCH / FORSCHUNG.
> Ensemble: Permanent Collection / Fluxus.
> Ensemble: SUPERDEMOCATIE / SUPERDEMOKRATIE / SUPERDEMOCRACY.
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> Ensemble: The Self as Measure.
> Ensemble: WAANZIN | MADNESS.
> Ensemble: Worth Fighting For.