Higher Horse
2008 - Film & Video (Film & Video)
6:13 minutes
Kate Gilmore
In the six-minute single-channel video Higher Horse , Kate Gilmore perches herself on top of a tall pile of plaster blocks, in front of a pink colored wall with vein-like streaks of red. Two muscular men with sledgehammers simultaneously pummel the blocks where Gilmore attempts to stand. Although we can only see the artist from the waist down, her body language reveals apprehension: her hands, tense, press against the wall in an attempt to maintain balance while the men come dangerously close to smashing her bare legs. Gilmore’s attire—red heels, a black skirt, and a pink top—together with the pink walls, are all symbolically charged as expressions of the female gender. The aggressive actions we see in Higher Horse are consistent with her investigation into the language of damage, destruction and rage, which in this case, is inflicted by the male body as she attempts to remain above, unharmed.
Whether through live or filmed performances, or sculptural works where we can see traces of actions, Kate Gilmore’s practice always departs from the female body. Through her own physicality, and often using the language of destruction and rage, she creates works that bring into question social constructs relating to sex, gender, and most specifically, femininity. Although early in her career she often placed herself as the central protagonist, over the past few years she has invited other women to perform her pieces, and in some instances has even relied on audiences to activate works. A common feature of her work is the use feminine signifers—high heels, skirts, floral patterns, and specific color hues—which are set in stark contrast with physically demanding actions that are aggressive in nature and would commonly be associated with a masculine ethos. By tearing dry walls with sledge hammers, bashing cubes of metal and plaster, smashing glass containers full of paint—Gilmore’s gestures embody a form of resistance seeking to break free from the norms that constrict femininity, all of this articulated through and from the female body.
Colors:
Other related works, blended automatically
© » KADIST
Lynn Hershman Leeson
2016Tania Libre is a film by Lynn Hershman Leeson centered around renowned artist Tania Bruguera and her experience as a political artist and activist under the repressive government of her native Cuba...
© » KADIST
Andrea Bowers
2015Bowers’ Radical Hospitality (2015) is a sculptural contradiction: its red and blue neon letters proclaim the words of the title, signaling openness and generosity, while the barbed wires that encircle the words give another message entirely...
© » KADIST
Zanele Muholi
2014As a visual activist for the rights of Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex (LBGTQI), Muholi’s photographs radically transgress the conventional perception of lesbian and transgender communities in South Africa...
© » KADIST
Will Rogan
2010MUM , the acronym used to title a series of Rogan’s small interventions on found magazines, stands for “Magic Unity Might,” the name of a vintage trade magic publication...
© » KADIST
Aaron Young
2007The artist describes the work as “very performative video-pieces but they take on a more sculptural feel...
© » KADIST
Agnieszka Kurant
2022For Sentimentite Agnieszka Kurant collaborated with Justin Lane, CEO and Co-Founder of CulturePulse, to gather global sentiment data that has been harvested from millions of Twitter and Reddit posts related to 100 seismic events in recent history...
© » KADIST
Agnieszka Kurant
2022For Sentimentite Agnieszka Kurant collaborated with Justin Lane, CEO and Co-Founder of CulturePulse, to gather global sentiment data that has been harvested from millions of Twitter and Reddit posts related to 100 seismic events in recent history...
© » KADIST
Petra Cortright
2011In her 2011 webcam video, Sickhands , Cortright poses before her in-computer camera, as her hands, hair, and body begin waving and rippling vertically across the screen, distorted by software effects...
© » KADIST
Regina José Galindo
La Sombra (The Shadow) is a video of Regina Jose Galindo performing with a moving Leopard tank...
© » KADIST
Shahzia Sikander
2010The Last Post was inspired by Sikander’s ongoing interest in the colonial history of the sub-continent and the British opium trade with China...
© » KADIST
Zanele Muholi
2014As a visual activist for the rights of Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex (LBGTQI), Muholi’s photographs radically transgress the conventional perception of lesbian and transgender communities in South Africa...
© » KADIST
Pak Sheung Chuen
2017The series Nightmare Wallpapers represents a shift if Chuen’s practice, allowing the artist to immerse himself in an “artistic pilgrimage of self healing” following the failure of the 2014 Umbrella Movement...
© » ROYAL ACADEMY
Catherine Opie
Video: Catherine Opie on photographing leading British artists | Blog | Royal Academy of Arts Catherine Opie in the RA Collection Gallery Video: Catherine Opie on photographing leading British artists Read more Become a Friend Video: Catherine Opie on photographing leading British artists Published 8 September 2023 Catherine Opie discusses her portraits of David Hockney, Anish Kapoor, Gillian Wearing, Isaac Julien and Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, featured in our free display in the Collection Gallery...
© » KADIST
Gimhongsok
2007To explore the boundaries between artwork and audience, Gimhongsok created a series of sculptural performances in which a person wearing an animal costume poses in the gallery...
