Shaving the Baroness After Man Ray, Marcel Duchamp and Baroness Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven, 1921, 2010

There are many questions and stories about this film. One story has it: Man Ray accidentally destroyed the film negatives during processing. Another states: the film was shown to a small group of friends in New York during the 1920s. However, it seems unlikely that the film was ever shown, since it is now only known to exist as two printed frames which Man Ray attached to a letter in 1921. But then there is the question: Who exactly was the Baroness Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven? Was she merely the model in this film? Or was the Baroness also the author?

Lene Berg

1965 Oslo. Lives and works in Berlin and New York. Educated as film-director, Lene Berg works with film, photography and texts. Using different media and fictions in her installations, she explores relationships between contemporary images and inherited conventions, between clichés and facts, between politics and rules of narration. During the last few years, she has been particularly interested in the distribution of ideas and the conditions of artistic freedom in relation to political agendas. Selected solo exhibitions and presentations include: Cooper Union, New York 2008 (closed after 2 days); Fotogalleriet, Oslo 2008; Whitechapel Gallery, London 2007. Group exhibitions include: Contour, Mechelen 2009; Biennale Cuvée, Linz 2009; The Sydney Biennale 2008; The Taipei Biennial 2008; Headlines & Footnotes, Henie Onstad Art Center, Oslo 2008; Conspire! Transmediale, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin 2008; and Pensée Sauvage, Frankfurter Kunstverein, 2007.