Cake Walk @ Kate Gilmore. 2005

http://www.kategilmore.com/stills/index.html

- GILMORE Kate, Cake Walk, 2005.

The performance videos by the New York-based artist Kate Gilmore (1975, USA) are scenes of a perpetual fight between the artist and the problems and absurd difficulties she creates for herself. The static camera in reminiscent of early slapstick movies. In putting herself in extreme physical situations, she evokes the performance art of Abramovic, Acconci and others, to which she adds the elements of an absurd and dark sense of humour. With funny, the obsessive endeavours of the protagonist, who is usually dressed in clichéd feminine outfits, also make us squirm because they are turned into paintful and grotesque symbols of the tiresome feats of everyday life in a world that is hungry for success and recognition.

Cake Walk shows the artist as she relentlessly attempts to climb a high wooden ramp leaning against a wall while wearing roller skates. The goal of her Sisyphus task is to reach a cake placed on top of the ramp. In the end, the artist’s attemps are rewarded with success.