Hot offered a sensitive look at middle age and the persistent desire for intimacy. In an elegant, slowly evolving tableau, Mars considered the search for unconditional love. Forsaking the “hot” sexuality of youth for the “hot” flashes of menopause, Mars presented the image of a bearded lady, setting thousands of household mousetraps with red cinnamon candy hearts as a video projection of a woman rassling with a dog suggested where true companionship and uncomplicated bonding might be found. Performing for a total of 24 hours over two to three days, Mars explored duration as the unifying formal element of the image, using her presence as a performer not so much to provide narration or theatrical relief as to breathe life and layer meaning into the tableau by animating its rhythm.
Hot
