Louisa Clement

- Blurring the distinction between original and copy, doll and clone, human and robot - An artist book that comes with a sound box - Publishing to accompany an exhibition at Kunsthalle Giessen between 7 May and 11 June 2021 Ever since her student years at Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, Louisa Clement (b. 1987) has investigated the transformation of human communication, especially in digital space and social media. One of her primary interests is the increasingly widespread display of idealized self-portraits. For her most recent work, entitled Repräsentantinnen, Clement has created copies of herself that are as fascinating as they are unsettling. In collaboration with a Chinese company specializing in the manufacture of sex dolls, she commissioned life-sized manikins to be made based on parameters of her body that were calculated with the help of body scans, microphotographs, and video recordings of movements. With movable parts and sexually functional, these dolls not only have the same face as their creator, but are programmed to imitate the artist's facial expressions and to communicate and interact with spectators and the surrounding world. This publication documents Clement's work and explores various technical, psychological, economic, and ethical questions raised by it. The book also features a sound box that allows it to interact with its readers. Text in English and German.