Workout

2011 - Film & Video (Film & Video)

11 min 40

Polina Kanis


In the seminal video Workout , Kanis looks at the phenomenon of exercise in public space—specifically aerobics exercises in parks around Moscow today—as a broader lens for thinking about generational change. She leads a local group of participants through a work-shopped sequence of aerobics and marching. Each participant moves steadily and confidently in unison. Suited in western sports gear and found in a municipal garden in Moscow, the elderly locals follow suit as the briskly paced instructor leads the way. The sexual overtones of Kanis’ presence as an instructor pervade the video. While seemingly innocent in the taking of her exercise class, the opening of the instructor’s legs and the angle of the camera strongly suggests objectification and sexualisation of women in sport. Kanis’ performance work is a sophisticated tool in locating and deconstructing structures of generational difference, transitions of political regime, social remnants of the past and gender placement in society.


Polina Kanis (b. 1985 Leningrad, now Saint Petersburg Russia) is a leading video practitioner of the post-soviet generation. Kanis is a graduate of the Herzen State Pedagogical University of Russia (2006) and the Rodchenko Art School (2011). Her choreographed situations are symbolic of her time and incorporate a removed sense of nostalgia with a keen sense of timeliness. Her social staging reinvents rituals while investigating power dynamics of the individual in formed groups. In her approach, she exposes broken structures by using routine, rhythm and repetition. Her pedagogical training and ability to work with various groups leads her to be the catalyst of each action.


Colors:



Related works sharing similar palette

The West Hollywood Artist Who Immortalised LA’s
© » ANOTHER

The West Hollywood Artist Who Immortalised LA’s Golden Boys | AnOther A new exhibition in New York showcases the work of Kenneth Kendall, an artist who sculpted James Dean, Marlon Brando and more in the bohemian atmosphere of late 20th-century Los Angeles February 06, 2024 Text Miss Rosen Back in the 1950s, Hollywood’s fabled Melrose Avenue was still a sleepy street home to cabinetmakers and print shops catering to the local community...

1,2,3 soleil ! (1440 sunsets per 24 hours series)
© » KADIST

Haig Aivazian

For the exhibition 1440 sunsets per 24 hours at KADIST Paris in 2017, Haig Aivazian presented a sprawling installation, which sought to enact various instances of the deployment of light and darkness within public space and sports, reflecting on the double-edged abilities of lighting systems to expose, highlight or dissimulate subjects...

Billionaire Heidi Horten to Become Museum Founder - via Vindobona
© » LARRY'S LIST

The billionaire, patron and art collector Heidi Goëss-Horten has acquired a palace for the permanent presentation of her Heidi Horten Collection in downtown…...

Louise Bourgeois | The Burton at Bideford
© » TATE EXHIBITIONS

Louise Bourgeois | The Burton at Bideford Explore the work of Louise Bourgeois, one of the most celebrated and influential figures in modern and contemporary art in Devon With a career spanning eight decades from the 1930s until 2010, Louise Bourgeois is one of the great figures of modern and contemporary art...

Dans « Daaaaaalí ! », les inventions cinématographiques de Quentin Dupieux dignes du peintre surréaliste
© » LE MONDE

Dans « Daaaaaalí ! », les inventions cinématographiques de Quentin Dupieux dignes du peintre surréaliste Cet article vous est offert Pour lire gratuitement cet article réservé aux abonnés, connectez-vous Se connecter Vous n'êtes pas inscrit sur Le Monde ? Inscrivez-vous gratuitement Article réservé aux abonnés Le peintre Salvador Dali (1904-1989), sur le toit de sa maison, à Cadaqués (Espagne), en septembre 1968...

Antoine Jacobsohn, Ruth Noack & Shooshie Sulaiman
© » KADIST

Antoine Jacobsohn , responsible of the King’s Kitchen Garden, (Versailles), and Ruth Noack , curator and writer (Berlin) in conversation with Shooshie Sulaiman about her practice and storytelling through gardening....

Podcast 84: Traditional Arts: Dikir Barat, Kavadi Attam and Nanyin
© » ARTS EQUATOR

Podcast 84: Traditional Arts: Dikir Barat, Kavadi Attam and Nanyin | ArtsEquator Thinking and Talking about Arts and Culture in Southeast Asia ArtsEquator Viewpoints December 8, 2020 ArtsEquator speaks to Lyn Lee, Nirmala Seshadri and Soultari Amin Farid about Nanyin, Kavadi Attam and Dikir Barat and the study and practice of traditional arts in Singapore...

Marsha Coleman-Adebayo (Bronze, Plinth 2), Monuments of the Disclosed
© » KADIST

Ahmet Ögüt

2022

Monuments of the Disclosed by Ahmet Ögüt is an NFT series of digital monuments to whistleblowers...

Kimberly Young-McLear (Bronze, Plinth 3), Monuments of the Disclosed
© » KADIST

Ahmet Ögüt

2022

Monuments of the Disclosed by Ahmet Ögüt is an NFT series of digital monuments to whistleblowers...

Valérie Jouve — Le monde est un abri
© » SLASH PARIS

Valérie Jouve — Le monde est un abri — CPIF — Centre photographique d’Ile-de-France — Exposition — Slash Paris Connexion Newsletter Twitter Facebook Valérie Jouve — Le monde est un abri — CPIF — Centre photographique d’Ile-de-France — Exposition — Slash Paris Français English Accueil Événements Artistes Lieux Magazine Vidéos Retour Valérie Jouve — Le monde est un abri Exposition Photographie, vidéo À venir Sans titre (Les Façades), 2020-2023 / Sans titre (Les Personnages avec Abu Hassan), 2009, courtesy de l’artiste et de la galerie Xippas (Paris, Genève, Punta del Este) Photomontage Courtesy de Valérie Jouve et de la galerie Xippas (Paris, Genève, Punta del Este) Valérie Jouve Le monde est un abri Dans environ 2 mois : 11 février → 14 avril 2024 Après la parution en novembre 2022 de son dernier livre ( Valérie Jouve , Flammarion/ CNAP ) mettant en récit quinze années de travail, Valérie Jouve formule une nouvelle proposition pour le vaste espace du Centre Photographique d’Île-de-France (Pontault-Combault, Seine-et-Marne)...

Marlene Garcia-Esperat (Silver, Plinth 5), Monuments of the Disclosed
© » KADIST

Ahmet Ögüt

2022

Monuments of the Disclosed by Ahmet Ögüt is an NFT series of digital monuments to whistleblowers...

The Working Processes of Artists: Tina Fung
© » ARTS EQUATOR

The Working Processes of Artists: Tina Fung | ArtsEquator Skip to content Tina Fung is a set designer and installation artist who runs Space Objekt, a design studio based in Singapore...

he woke up with seeds in his lungs, 6
© » KADIST

Prajakta Potnis

2020

he woke up with seeds in his lungs by Prajakta Potnis is a set of x-ray films presented through backlit light boxes of found objects constructed to evoke the body or organs that turns the host into a foreign element...

Bunnatine Greenhouse (Silver, Plinth 4), Monuments of the Disclosed
© » KADIST

Ahmet Ögüt

2022

Monuments of the Disclosed by Ahmet Ögüt is an NFT series of digital monuments to whistleblowers...

Black Painting No. 52
© » KADIST

Nguyen Thai Tuan

2008

In the “Black Paintings” series, although the human body is only suggested, it plays an important role...

Abraham Cruzvillegas Part 1
© » KADIST

In this interview, Mexico City – based artist Abraham Cruzvillegas discusses the influence of music....

Paris Police Investigate Death Of Actress Who Had Accused Depardieu Of Assault
© » ARTSJOURNAL

Emmanuelle Debever: Prosecutors probe death of Gerard Depardieu accuser - BBC News Image source, Les Films du Losange Image caption, A young Emmanuelle Debever, who appeared in several films and television programmes in the 1980s By Hugh Schofield BBC News, Paris Paris prosecutors are investigating the apparent suicide of an actress who alleged she was sexually assaulted decades ago by Gérard Depardieu...