In The Seamless Real, Julika Rudelius shows us a world in which unbridled power and discipline paradoxically reinforce one another, condensed beneath sleek, glossy and blazing surfaces. Bodies, human, animal, and mechanical, are staged as instruments and textures of power and intimidation. They present themselves as a project that must be continuously maintained and perfected to produce strength. The body is trained, polished, shaped and displayed in its full potential, yet at the same time tightly restrained and cultivated through regimes of self-reflection, routines and codes of conduct.
In the video installations, which balance between observation and representation on steriods, a disorienting culture is sketched in clear, immaculate scenes. In this context, the extreme control of the body suggests a close alignment with a desire to ward off the growing sense of threat and chaos in the world. Together with a selection of photographs and drawings, the videos create an image world that revolves not only around a distinctly patriarchal form of potency and dominance, but also around seduction, devotion, vulnerability and desire. At first glance incompatible domains flow into one another: religion, paradisiacal landscapes, contemplative reflections on life, romantic promises, but also superficial displays of outward (power) performance and the raw violence of roaring engines. Today, these spheres appear far less distant from one another than they might seem.
In The Seamless Real power is rarely released. Fueled by far-reaching ideals, it accumulates beneath the surface and is driven to an almost ominous extreme.