 Anexión oculta [Hidden Annexation], 2008 The inseparable unity of life and death is the central theme in Susana Pilar Delahante Matienzo's artistic oeuvre. If life is regarded, at the same time, as a slow process of dying, then whether something appears dead or alive becomes a question of viewpoint. In what she stages in her series of photographs, Anexión oculta, the artist symbolises this connection and demonstrates in absurd situations how a constant presence of death can look and be arranged in harmony with every-day life.  El escandalo de lo Real [The Scandal of the Real], 2006-2007 In a self-experiment, the artist had herself inseminated with a dead man’s semen. 72 hours after death had occurred, the semen was still fertile – as was confirmed by the medical report on her pregnancy. Today's biotechnology makes the artificial manipulation and the designing of every single moment in life possible – and casts doubt on the nature of life as a given and natural destiny. Susana Pilar Delahante Matienzo's experiment demonstrates once more that it is not a clear-cut matter where life begins and where it ends and where the boundaries run between art, technology and nature.  Sin titulo [Untitled], 2002 Susana Pilar Delahante Matienzo's elaborately staged productions featuring herself as a corpse form part of a long tradition of artists’ self-portraits, which, above all, served as memento reaching beyond death and attempting to keep the artist’s memory as vivid as possible. By contrast, Delahante Matienzo in her photographs immortalizes a materialistic truth by simultaneously addressing the objectifying glance of the photographic camera and the moment of death as the production of an image as well as of a corpse. With the works in this series, the artist also refers to the suffering of female victims of violent crime, in whose honour she wants to leave a memorial. Susana Pilar Delahante Matienzo, * 1984 in Havana (CU), lives and works in Havana (CU)  Susana Pilar Delahante Matienzo, Anexión oculta [Hidden Annexation], 20086 photographs (inkjet print), 70 x 100cm courtesy Susana Pilar Delahante Matienzo produced in cooperation with ZKM | Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe Susana Pilar Delahante Matienzo, El escandalo de lo Real [The Scandal of the Real], 2006-2007 Heterologous Artificial Insemination, 2 photographs (inkjet print),each 20 x 30cm 2 copies of medical documents courtesy Susana Pilar Delahante Matienzo produced in cooperation with ZKM | Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe Susana Pilar Delahante Matienzo, Sin titulo [Untitled], 2002 4 photographs (inkjet print), 80 x 60cm courtesy Susana Pilar Delahante Matienzo produced in cooperation with ZKM | Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe
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