Eye Body
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Eye Body (Thirty-Six Transformative Actions for Camera) (1963) is an experimental film by Carolee Schneemann.
Production on Schneemann's work Eye Body began in 1962. Schneemann created a "loft environment" filled with broken mirrors, motorized umbrellas, and rhythmic color units.
To become a piece of the art herself, Schneemann covered herself in various materials including grease, chalk, and plastic.
She created 36 "transformative-actions" - photographs by Icelandic artist Erró of herself in her constructed environment.
Including these images is a frontal nude featuring two garden snakes crawling on Schneemann's torso. This image drew particular attention both for its "archaic eroticism" and her visible clitoris.
Upon its presentation to the public in 1963, art critics found the piece to be lewd and pornographic. Eye Body is noted for the way in which Schneemann portrays "how random fragments of her memory and personal elements of her environment are superimposed on her perception."
