Sanctus, The Profaned Body

• Date: 1985-present

• Location: Europe

• Grounds for Censorship: Nudity & Behavior

• Medium: Installation

• Artist/Author/Producer: Rosa Sanchez

• Confronting Bodies: London City officials, Osnabruck Culture officials

• Dates of action: March 1994, September 1994

• Location: ICA (Institute OF Contemporary Arts) London, European Media Art Festival /Osnabruck/Germany

Description of the Art Work

Name: "SANCTUS" is an installation about body, sex and society. A closed circuit TV system is installed. Cameras are placed in the toilets of the venue and live images are transmitted to monitors placed in the gallery space. The audience can see these images mixed with images digitalized from pornofilms and images from sex change operations. The audience can choose which image they want to see.

Description of incident

LONDON: The ICA officials protected themselves by:

- Not allowing persons under 18 to enter the intallation.

- Not allowing images from the ladies toilet to be sent.

- Controlling the men's toilet images, introducing a delay so that the image could be turned off before reaching the installation in case something happened in front of the camera.

- The people entering the men's toilet were warned and asked whether they consented to take part to the installation.

Through the medium of the video camera.

OSNABRUCK: The OFFICIALS of the Festival protected themselves by: - Not allowing persons under 18.

- Showing images coming from the toilets only during the PERFORMANCE times. They would unmount the cameras during the installation. Thus leaving the installation without these images.

Results of incident

The installation+performance were shown with serious "mutilations". Posteres would be placed in the space, indicating to the audience what was occuring, and somehow becoming part of the installation.

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