The Doll House- Homage To VALIE EXPORT

Performance by Lital Dotan

‘The Dollhouse’ is the first evening of homage performances at The Glasshouse, dedicated to major performance artists who influenced art, culture and feminism.

‘The Dollhouse’ is homage to VALIE EXPORT’s ‘Tap and Touch Cinema’ (done several times from 1968-1971). In this revolutionary work, EXPORT wore a sort of "movie theater box" around her naked upper body, so that her body could not be seen by anyone reaching through the curtained front of the box. She then went into the street and invited passing by strangers to come and touch her.

‘The Dollhouse’ is an adaptation to this work. In this performance of Dotan & Perry, the box is representing the house as a box with only one exposed dimension, raising questions about the concept of borders and intimacy in an out of site territory.

Visitors were handed numbers and in turn were to reach their hands in through the windows and touch Lital’s naked body. Like an automated photo machine Lital ejected a childhood photo after each visitor left.