ELISABETH SMOLARZ

DOPPELNAMER

2016, ongoing project with Jamie Diamond and Lauren Silberman, Photography

 

Two people with the same name can get mixed up. In the age of the Internet, the lives of two or more disparate people connected only by name can easily overlap and be confused, resulting in parallel narratives that intersect and exist both in and outside of the internet. The artists in DOPPELNAMER respond to the proliferating confusion and complex narratives that come about as a result of shared names and contribute to the blurring distinctions between the readymade and the original, consumption and production, and creation and imitation.

 

Mirroring the stylistic quality of a psychodrama Elisabeth Smolarz the artist went to France in 2015 to visit her new aunt, also Elisabeth Smolarz found recently via Facebook. Elisabeth Smolarz the artist assumes the identity of her estranged family member, dressed in her aunts clothing she performs alongside her for one full day. The final installation, Elisabeth Smolarz featuring Elisabeth Smolarz, August 20th, France, 2015 shows fragments from that day with both women cooking, gardening, watching TV as well as taking a short trip together. The fleeting photographic fragments are coupled with household objects and mementos. The smell of Bonnie Plants from the last time Elisabeth saw her family at the age of four, a necklace and earrings her uncle sent her for her communion, and most recently a  parting gift from her aunt...a cork top.

 

Selected exhibitions:

SPRING/BREAK Art Show, 2016