“In the boxing ring I practice a language that was already there”, writes Anna Zett in her piece, ‘Fist to Brain’, published in The New Inquiry in 2015. In the second of two videos exploring the Berlin-based artist’s work for aqnb’s ongoing video series made in collaboration with Video in Common, Zett shares her thoughts on the symbolic language of boxing in relation to the brain. Expressing a keen interest and dedication to the martial art independent of her creative practice, Zett discusses how the two traditions became intertwined, ultimately informing each other and culminating in video and performance, ‘Circuit Training‘ (2015), showing at London’s Banner Repeater between November 2015 and January 2016.
Zett’s ‘This Unwieldy Object’ video essay debuted at London’s Extinction Marathon: Visions of the Future at Serpentine galleries in 2014, a 47-minute film tracking the artist on a research-driven road trip through the United States, and her encounters with the fossil traders, sculptors and scientists who have a hand in constructing its primordial history in the image of the country’s pro-colonial scientific ideology.
Often working with text and language as an imperial tool, the Leipzig-born artist is also responsible for the ‘DINOSAUR.GIF’ (2014) video lecture, which draws connections between a history of blockbuster film with capitalism, as well as spoken word presentations featured at London’s General Fine Arts ‘Values’ issue launch and Berlin’s After the Eclipse readings. Zett’s writing has also appeared in the The New Inquiry and Arcadia Missa’s How To Sleep Faster 5.**
Watch the video embedded above and see here for Part One.
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Produced in partnership with Video in Common. This project has been made possible through the generous support of Arts Council England.
