Mette Ingvartsen: Manual Focus

Masks of old men’s faces on the back of the head of three nude women transform them into a 12-legged organism, crossing out their identity by covering their real face with the artificiality of a mask. It is not the monster in itself but rather the monstrous connections between nude/masked, artificial/real, male/female that produces an unfamiliar gaze at the bodies we already know. Here, monsters are not a species that you can get familiar with, they disappear and slip away unfocused.

Mette Ingvartsen is a Danish choreographer and dancer whose work is characterised by hybridity. Since establishing her company in 2003, her work has been presented widely throughout Europe, as well as in the US, Canada, South Korea, Taiwan and Australia. In Berlin, Ingvartsen has been supported by Hebbel am Ufer / HAU through the years.