PT #1398
The video shows a performance for the camera that focuses on the implications that medical institutions have in the control of the body and the construction of sexual perversions. The piece involves sadomasochistic and body modification practices, and kinky activities, specifically fisting.
The video also explores the extent to which a work of art that involves BDSM practices may be affected by institutional power. In other words, in the UK, it is legally forbidden to possess material that depicts people engaging in sadomasochistic and kinky activities. People can be convicted under Section 63 of the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008, otherwise known as the Extreme Pornography Act unless they can demonstrate that what the images show is part of an artwork. This performance for the camera has also been recorded for my practice-based PhD research and has to follow certain regulations to be accepted by the university I am attending. Consequently, at the beginning and the end of the video, I put a statement that declares that every act performed are part of an art piece and were used for research purpose. The end of the video also shows the aftercare.
Due to the statement that I had to use, this piece underlines the challenges that an artist whose work revolves around the use of sadomasochistic practice may face because of institutional power that addresses the aforementioned activities as illegal despite being consensual.
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Luca FedericiDirector
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Luca FedericiWriter
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Luca FedericiProducer
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Darren BlackProducerCo-producer - Filmographer
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Enes TopalProducerCo-producer - Filmographer
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Luca FedericiKey Cast
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Matt SkullyKey Cast
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Project Type:Experimental, Student
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Runtime:22 minutes 39 seconds
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Completion Date:April 3, 2023
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Production Budget:500 GBP
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Country of Origin:United Kingdom
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Country of Filming:United Kingdom
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Language:English
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Film Color:Color
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First-time Filmmaker:Yes
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Student Project:Yes - Central Saint Martins
Luca Federici is a performance artist based in London whose practice focuses on the use of BDSM and body modification practices as resources to criticise the power that controls the body through the regulation of sexuality. Luca has performed in art events like FUCK/LIVE/ART curated by Franko B (London), Emergency18 (Manchester), Exhausting the Body curated by Louis Fleischauer (Berlin), and Kink in the Archive II at London's Bishopsgate Institute. He has also performed in notorious fetish nights such as Torture Garden (London) and Wasteland (Amsterdam).
Luca is also part of the newest Bruce LaBruce's experimental movie 'The Visitor' (2023) in which he embodies the Maid. The movie has been produced by a/political gallery (London).
Luca is pursuing a practice-based PhD project at Central Saint Martins (London). The research, whose title is My Body Is My Own: Masochistic Body Art, Power, and Perverted Sexualities, explores the extent to which a performance artist who uses sadomasochistic practices in their work can be challenged by some regulations placed upon BDSM, and how they deal with them. The aim is to use masochistic performance art to problematize the laws that prohibit BDSM.
Links:
https://www.instagram.com/luca.federici/
https://www.facebook.com/lucafedericiartist/
https://www.torturegarden.com/interview-luca-federici/