WESTERN FRONT – Horror Autoxicus

Description:

Nell Tenhaaf’s solo exhibition Horror Autotoxicus was conceived as an interactive oracle. At its centre, a computer offered viewers three choices, each triggering a thirty-second video of DNA construction accompanied by a voice-over recounting the myth of Oedipus. Tenhaaf intended for viewers to explore all three options, demonstrating that no matter the choice, the outcome—like Oedipus’s fate—remained the same. The installation highlighted the self-fulfilling, cyclical, and bio-deterministic nature of Oedipal prophecies embedded in Western thought.

Challenging Freud and Lacan, Tenhaaf argued that, like Oedipus, individuals are caught in a cycle of violence and power inherent to gender relations shaped not only by socialization within a patriarchal society but also, seemingly, by DNA.

Horror Autoxicus questioned social structures, the authority of science, and ideas of biological and social determinism.

The exhibition was accompanied by a catalogue featuring an essay by Johanne Lamoureaux, translated into English by Susanne de Lotbinière-Harwood.

Curated by Brice MacNeil.

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The Memory of the Epidermis and Gorin No Sho

Western Front is a non-profit artist-run centre in Vancouver.

We acknowledge the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and səl̓ílwətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations as traditional owners of the land upon which Western Front stands.