Lou Masduraud — Wet Men

Silver glazed pipes and taps hang in rows from the ceiling. They drip and run, the water pools in the barrels below and is pumped back into the pipes via hoses. Dripping muscle shirts dangle limp from the taps. The overflow of a barrel collects in a hollowed-out torso made of ceramic, flows as a trickle over the tiled floor and is swallowed by the drain. A streetlamp bathes the space in a diffuse light and blurs the boundary between indoor and outdoor space. With "Wet Men", Lou Masduraud presents a new site-specific installation that creates multi-layered references to the history and former use of the exhibition space as a changing and shower room for dockworkers. The associated projections range from the sweaty smell of proletarian physical labour, the puddles of urine from boozy nights, to the erotic fantasies surrounding sailor life on the docks. Lou Masduraud is interested in the culturally still strongly male connotated images of work, equipment and machines as well as the socially little represented aspects of male intimacy and vulnerability.