WAYS OF ESCAPE
Video Installation, 2011

The video projection WAYS OF ESCAPE Catrine Val embodies the role of Romy Schneider from her part as an unsuccessful actress in the film ” L’important c’est d’aimer” (1975) by Andrzej Zuławski. In the video loop only one scene of the film-set is recreated. Romy Schneider as Nadine Chevalier stands isolated on the screen and begs all of the attending photographers and cameramen to please not take a single photo more of her, ” S’il vous plaît pas de photos, pas de photos.” Regardless of her pleadings there is a flurry of camera flashes and “Nadine” breaks down briefly. The camera pauses on her face, which she attempts to shield with her hand. This media-reflective phenomenon is so representativeve that the sequence has not lost any of its explosiveness on Flicker, Youtube and Facebook. Catrine Val adapts Romy Schneider and her team. Jan Friese is the fashion photographer and at the same time the key figure of her last production. The clicking of the camera is here transmitted as physical pain. Viewers become voyeurs and accomplices in a love triangle between the camera, photographer, and model.