For her 1975 performance piece, Manon re-imagined the legend of courtesan and dancer, Lola Montez. Manon, who suffers from claustrophobia, had herself chained to a chair and exhibited wearing a dominatrix costume. The ambivalence of the “Lola Montez” figure was passed on to Manon’s artistic identity: as a show woman and actress, master and slave, as strong and weak. For the first time, Manon slipped into a role that was strongly shaped by fiction.
The End of Lola Montez is on view, for the first time outside of Switzerland, until June 30, 2009.
www.swissinstitute.net
Image: Detail of the 1975 performance, The End of Lola Montez .
