«Speculum» is a cross-disciplinary project aiming to create a space for reflection about intimacy, nakedness, sexuality and gender identity. Since too often the term «body» is contrasted with «mind» and thus used to designate a separate reality from the rest of our «being», this project concerns the (re)discovery of the body as an integral part of self-identification.

Refusing the notions of indecency and shame, we want to promote a climate of curiosity and acceptance around nakedness. What relationship do you have to your own genitalia? How do we feel in our skin in the moment of exposure to someone else’s gaze? Is there a clear-cut line between empowerment and oppression of our bodies?

Bringing together various fields of artistic practice, this exhibition strives to explore the physicality of our bodies without reducing them to flesh, asking what it means to be naked in a hypersexualized world.

T: Katharina Stahlhofen