Biting and Chewing as Sculptural Gestures

This thesis essay contextualizes a specific aspect of my art practice - the use of the mouth as sculptural tool. It examines the destructive and formative element of the bite exploring this gesture from a physiological, sense-related and art historical perspective. What drives my practice-based research (Borgdorff, Sullivan) is the question of how embodied sensations can be transferred from the mouth to an object. Descriptions of bodily sensations related to the ingestion of food and its rejection (De Beauvoir) and theories of embodied perception (Merleau-Ponty, Grosz) inform my investigation of the biting process. Affect as a liminal space of acting and being acted upon (Seigworth, Gregg) and the relation between sensorial perception and emotions (Highmore) are considered in relation to the mouth. The process of biting and chewing is compared to traditional sculpting techniques backdrop. Related to explorations of soft materials and chance (Duchamp, Oppenheim, Benglis), as well as feminist art practices involving the body, I focus on the works Petit Dessert I (1970-71) and Photosculptures (1971) by Alina Szapocznikow, The Destruction of the Father (1974) by Louise Bourgeois, and Gnaw (1992) by Janine Antoni to situate my practice within a specific artistic context. The essay also considers the physical contextualization of the chewed objects within the sculptures through the concept of ‘spitting’. The sculptures represent the liminal position of biting, between destruction and formation, through physical instability and suggestion.