Max and Beast

2023

Short film created and exhibited in Gallery Kazamat, HDLU Osijek

Duration: 7:52 min

“The artist introduces the plurality of the human in a post-anthropological manner with a site-specific video work Max and Beast that captures an intimate dialogue with an animal and her sculpture Max. Max Leroux is the artist’s long running research project with which she contemplates power and the abuse of power, identity and the gaze. His identity changes with each new project. Max’s surname Leroux is an homage to Gaston Leroux, the author of the book Le Le Fantôme de l'Opéra. Noa Geras met Max in Venice, and from then they developed works in Basel, Zagreb, London and Israel. In the short film Max is silent, but an active participant.

The inner turmoil of the animal becomes a view of observed imbalances. The conversation pinpoints the fragility of one’s identity and socially constructed roles. The absence of an answer points to the responsibility that Max bears as a representative of distorted humanity in everyday communication and action.”

Excerpt from “Beasts” by curator and art historian Maja Pavlinić