Orlan also did a really cool (non-plastic-surgery-related) project where essentially inverted the filmmaking process. Instead of first making a movie, Orlan first made movie posters. She put them around Paris and people became confused when they couldn’t find a theater where the supposed film was playing. She made a soundtrack from the (non-existent) movie, a DVD for movie, and even held a forum where famous actors, directors, and critics met and discussed the film! When I heard her talk about this project she hadn’t yet actually gotten to the part where she makes the film because apparently she needs to find a producer, but maybe by now production is underway. I actually think it would be kind of neat if she just never makes the film and uses the project as a sort of critique of movie posters, DVDs, soundtracks and movie screenings. When are any of these things ever given a second thought?

In response to Snaggle Tooth = Social Suicide and Spinsterhood, I’d like bring up an artist who turns on its head this idea of having to look a certain way (and having to go through cosmetic dentistry or surgery or what have you to get there). I don’t know if any of you have heard of Orlan but she’s definitely one of the most provocative artists I know of. Her art is her face. She undergoes cosmetic operations to contort her face in ways that are completely foreign to the operations we usually encounter. For her, a nose job might make her nose enormous or she may try to copy the Roman nose. The surgery that stood out most to me when I got to see her give a lecture in LA last spring were two enormous implants, one at each temple (she had decorated them with glitter for the lecture). Orlan undergoes the entire operation while remaining conscious and even talking. She has the “performance” telecasted to select places around the world. The art is pretty gruesome to watch but that definitely is part of her point.