JANE BLOND – ETÜDE ATTITÜDEN – video for projection or monitor, HDV, 3:30 min. Vienna 1997 (re-edit NL 2006)

In JANE BLOND - STUDY OF ATTITUDES, Anke Schäfer practises the character of her live movie star Jane Blond by trying out different attitudes in close-up: suggestive smiles as well as mimics of deep reflection and tender attention towards the viewer, whom she addresses directly. Some yes, some no, and Jane's remarks "There's nothing beyond control" and "It's not true at all" transform the intimacy of this "tête-á-tête" into a strange feeling, playing with the viewer's expectations of how real she might be. 

Exhibitions: Frankfurt Art Fair, Galerie von der Milwe (Aachen, Germany), 1999; Solo exhibition “BE WELCOME” Kunsthalle Loppem, Belgium 2008, (see digitised copy of art critic in …,   2008, in supplementary material)

 JANE BLOND was a performative project in semi-public space in 1997 in Vienna during a 6-month artist-in-residence and in 1999 as a guest of Jeanne van Heeswijk's "HNY - PS1" project in New York. The publication "Jane Blond & Sylvia Plaid - Special Guests in Vienna" documents the unannounced interventions at various locations through the writings and notes of invited witnesses such as the Dutch art historian and curator Mique Eggermont, the artist Hans Poschauko, the writer Judith Fischer, the art critic Patricia Grzonka and others. 

 For the project at the P.S.1 Museum in New York, Jane auditioned in a replica, an exact copy of a hotel room from the legendary Rotterdam Hotel New York. The auditions were broadcast live in black and white to the waiting room outside. One of the candidates, a young male student, was chosen by Jane to appear in a "live film" based on the student's fantasies of buying a large space in the Chrysler Building. The concept of "Jane Blond A Live Movie Star" was to test fantasies of wealth in real life and to make them come true at least for a few minutes of one's life. No filming was allowed, as this would interfere with the live experience and undermine the concept of a truly "live movie", a film where live and life is not separated from each other. The auditions for the P.S.1 New York project are documented in the artist's book 'HNY - PS1', edited by Jeanne van Heeswijk (see digitised copies of catalogue and reviews in supplementary material)