In her new work In My Name, presented at the Secession, Miriam Bajtala focuses her attention—and directs ours—on the format of the speech and the question of representation.

In her installation at the Grafisches Kabinett, the artist presents two videos that enter into a dialogue. On one side, we see and hear a choir delivering a speech in many voices. Opposite, the artist herself is the protagonist. In four different roles, she recites a text collaged from four speeches written for her: sometimes directly, sometimes off-screen, whispering, critically, joyfully, resolutely, proudly.

The shift in perspective—from wide shot to close-up—is also visible on a spatial level. The main room, which is many times larger, is literally projected into the Graphic Cabinet. Through this juxtaposition, Miriam Bajtala raises the question of the respective characteristics of the space: she contrasts the sublime, representative nature of the main room with the intimacy of the Graphic Cabinet.

This demonstrates that the work “In My Name” was not merely conceived and developed for the exhibition at the Secession, but arose fundamentally from an engagement with the institution and her own position as an artist. Catalog accompanying the exhibition at the Secession, February 27 to April 21, 2013