Candice Breitz: Factum

I came across this video art by Candice Breitz by accident when researching Robert Rauschenberg's Factum I and II.  Rauschenberg inspired Breitz into looking at how something that at first appears to be indentical, often has more differences than you would imagine. 

Factum KangFrom the series Factum
2009
Edition of 5
Dual-channel installation: 2 hard drives
Duration: 69 minutes 10 seconds looped

"Breitz has often shown an interest in the alternating modes of desire and repulsion that shift between lovers, fans and celebrities. 'Factum' looks at the intensity of these forces between identical twins. Each 'Factum' is presented as a diptych (and one triptych), with each twin or triplet beside his or her sibling, dressed almost identically and in the same setting. Breitz interviewed each individual alone for up to seven hours, asking each twin the same set of questions. The artist then transcribed and analyzed each pair of interviews before editing the material into a dynamic conversation between the siblings, with the intertwining forces of documentary and fiction constantly at play. Through candid, often emotional responses, they reveal the strangeness, joys and difficulties of living one's life in parallel to someone who shares your exact genetic code and yet who possesses a distinct identity, with desires and tastes that may differ in subtle or significant ways. While the initial interview allowed each twin or triplet to tell his or her own story unencumbered by the presence of a sibling, Breitz complicates this relationship in the finished work by introducing the other twin as an interlocutor who offers a different perspective, with the artist also implicitly present as a third 'author' to the biographies. Through this format, Breitz underlines how any biography becomes a negotiation between various relationships, circumstances and desires - not to mention one's genetic heritage." (whitecube)

Factum McNamara
From the series Factum
2009
Edition of 5
Dual-channel installation: 2 hard drives
Duration: 49 minutes 29 second looped 

 As she states in the video commentary, Factum I & II are more about their differences than similarties.  They are an imperfect double image.  This doubling, twinning and a-symmetry is a theme route I will be exploring from now on in my twin project.  I will be removing myself from the personal side and focus more on the appearance and patterning in my work, playing on the way in which two 'identical' images catch the eye and force the viewer to look more closely. 

Breitz, C (2009) Factum Kang [Online image: Video Still] Available at: <http://www.whitecube.com/exhibitions/factum/I/> [Accessed 22^nd October 2011]

Breitz, C (2009) Factum McNamara [Online image: Video Still] Available at: <http://www.whitecube.com/exhibitions/factum/I/> [Accessed 22^nd October 2011]

Anon (2010) Candice Breitz: Factum [online] Available at: <http://www.whitecube.com/exhibitions/factum/I/> [Accessed 22^nd October 2011]