Manu Arregui

Choreography for 5 transvestites. 2001

Single-Channel Video, 3,32 min.

Hypnotic and synchronized choreography starring parts of the body (hands, arms and legs) that display a sensual and comic dance to the rhythm of chords that refer us to old Hollywood musicals and glamorous synchronized swimmers movies .

Conceived in 3D animation technique, like other works by the artist, the piece transmits multiple layers of meanings. The intelligent choice of digital techniques to create bodies brings to the table the issue of virtual identities, and the creation of parallel realities through technology. Gender issues are also present, raising an ironic reflection on normative masculinity and its need for deconstruction.

Using animation, a multiplication of hands with long nails, stylized arms and virtual legs is created, which little by little reveal a different sexual identity from what the viewer originally imagined; for the associations with the dancing swimmers in the Esther Williams films are quickly diluted when we verify that it is male bodies that perform the dance and that the final number implies making use of their penises and body fluids.

The piece allows us to reflect on the codes associated with masculinity and the need to pervert these values; paying homage to the world of androgyny, transgender, transvestism and disguise, as strategies to dismantle expired sexual codes.

The choice of fragmentation of body parts, of dismemberment, and then creating geometric shapes on a black background achieves an ambivalent effect: centralizing and decentralizing at the same time. The hands are intertwined, forming stars, elegant figures, but those compositions suspended in flat blackness also speak of the existential void in which contemporary man feels immersed. As we also find in other works by the artist, the video exudes melancholy … nostalgia for lost, fossilized worlds … those of “the old culture” that encapsulates forever the worn out tunes of Hollywood musicals.