Queen’s Finger, video, 3 m 43 s, 1998
Exhibited: Nette homos — oder wer bestimmt was wir sehen? Kaskadenkondensator, Basel, 2003; Feminismen: The Video Art Collection of Neuer Berliner Kunstverein, Nordstern Videokunstzentrum, Gelsenkirchen, 2015; Anna Daučíková, Futura, Prague, 2016; The Cunt Tavern, group show curated by Anthony Auerbach and Marlene Haring, The Function Room, London, 2016
You are watching a standard defnition do-it-yourself video. You find it more comfortable to sit down as you watch a thumb stroke the fingers of a hand. The hand and thumb glisten. This could be demonstrating something you are not sure what. The hand holds a glass object, an optical device. You watch. The hairs and pores of the skin are clearly visible. The thumb strokes the base of the glass object and then moves to the rim exploring the edge, caressing and rubbing. The thumb then moves inside the glass object from behind and rubs the inner surface. Faster then slower, agitated then gentle. The hand does not appear to know it is being observed. The thumb moves attentively inside, around, then across and back, stroking the lens-like object, rubbing and caressing. Between skin and glass it makes a sticking-slipping sound, grating and then soothing, over the faint whine of the tape transport mechanism. You look away, then back. Hypocrite voyeur. The noise increases, makes smooth surfaces sound abrasive. The faster and more violently the thumb rubs, the harder the sound. The slower and more gently the thumb strokes, the softer the sound. Then silent.