Emma Sulkowicz Breaks New Ground With Troubling Rape Video Performance

Emma Sulkowicz, the recent Columbia graduate who has taken the Internet by storm
thanks to her year-long performance art project Mattress Performance: Carry That
Weight, released a video, which shows two people, one of whom appears to be
Sulkowicz, engaged in sexual activity, some of which alludes
to rape and can be difficult to watch at times (see our interview with the artist
about this work Emma Sulkowicz Speaks Out About Her New Video Performance).

Sulkowicz confirmed during a phone interview with artnet News on June 4 that she
created the video.

We were alerted to the project, which is titled Ceci N'est Pas Un Viol
("This Is Not a Rape")—a reference to Magritte's The Treachery of Images—from a
post on Facebook by the video's director Ted Lawson. The video is presented on
the website cecinestpasunviol.com along with several hundred words
of prefatory text, which warn the visitor: "The following text contains allusions
to rape. Everything that takes place in the following video is consensual but may
resemble rape." (See Columbia Student's Striking Mattress

Performance and Columbia Student's Striking Mattress Performance.)

The introduction, which is written under Sulkowicz's name, notes that both parties
consented to the activities shown in the film. It is presented in split-screen and
was filmed with cameras arranged around the room. Proceeding both the introduction
and the film is a trigger warning.

A portion of the text reads:

"Ceci N'est Pas Un Viol is not about one night in August, 2012. It's about your
decisions, starting now. It's only a reenactment if you disregard my words. It's
about you, not him," Sulkowicz writes. "You might be wondering why I've made myself
this vulnerable. Look—I want to change the world,
and that begins with you, seeing yourself. If you watch this video without my consent,
then I hope you reflect on your reasons for objectifying me and participating in my
rape, for, in that case, you were the one
who couldn't resist the urge to make Ceci N'est Pas Un Viol about what you wanted
to make it about: rape."

"I may not be able to answer many of your questions," Sulkowicz wrote to us when we
reached out to her over Facebook and asked her about the video directed by Lawson.
Sulkowicz also agreed to be interviewed (see Emma Sulkowicz Speaks Out About Her New
Video Performance). When asked if she wanted people
to view the video as a follow-up to the mattress performance, Sulkowicz wrote back,
"Separate. It has a diff title."

"She got my number from Marina Abramović," Lawson told artnet News over Facebook chat.
"She wanted to do a lifecasting for a different project. I agreed to help her with the
life cast and became friends and she brought up this project she wanted to do and
asked me to direct it and help her produce it."
Still from the video titled Ceci n'est pas du viol.

Still from the video titled Ceci n'est pas du viol.

According to Lawson, the film was created a few months ago when Sulkowicz was on
winter break from her senior year at Columbia University. The website supposedly
created by Sulkowicz that features the video and accompanying text went live last night.

"It was a super risky piece and I thought very courageous, so of course I agreed,"
said Lawson. "I think it came out quite good."

The link to the video was posted by Lawson with the message, "A performance art video
I directed for Emma Sulkowicz. Your chance to see it before the Internet has a nuclear
meltdown." When asked why he posted the video before Sulkowicz had announced it, he
replied, "She's going to let it just kind of
propagate. She doesn't plan on posting anything."

Sulkowicz also presents the viewer with a series of questions to ask themselves before,
during, and after their experience of viewing the film, including "Are you searching
for proof? Proof of what?," "What do you want from this experience?," "How well do
you think you know me? Have we ever met?,"
and "Do you refuse to see me as either a human being or a victim? If so, why? Is
it to deny me agency and thus further victimize me? If so, what do you think of
the fact that you owe your ability to do so to me, since I'm
the one who took a risk and made myself vulnerable in the first place?"

You can watch Ceci N'est Pas Un Viol here.
TEXT Preceding the video
Ceci N'est Pas Un Viol
Emma Sulkowicz
June 2015
A_____'s S_____t

Trigger Warning: The following text contains allusions to rape. Everything that takes
place in the following video is consensual but may resemble rape. It is not a reenactment
but may seem like one. If at any point you are triggered or upset, please proceed
with caution and/or exit this website. However, I do not mean to be prescriptive,
for many people find pleasure in feeling upset.

Ceci N'est Pas Un Viol is not about one night in August, 2012. It's about your
decisions, starting now. It's only a reenactment if you disregard my words. It's
about you, not him.

Do not watch this video if your motives would upset me, my desires are unclear
to you, or my nuances are indecipherable.

You might be wondering why I've made myself this vulnerable. Look—I want to
change the world, and that begins with you, seeing yourself. If you watch
this video without my consent, then I hope you reflect on your reasons for
objectifying me and participating in my rape, for, in that case, you were
the one who couldn't resist the urge to make Ceci N'est Pas Un Viol about
what you wanted to make it about: rape.

Please, don't participate in my rape. Watch kindly.

A special thank you to everyone who made Ceci N'est Pas Un Viol possible,
especially my actor (*********), my director (Ted Lawson), and those I love who have guided and supported me.

* * *

Here are a few questions to help you reflect.

Searching:
Are you searching for proof? Proof of what?
Are you searching for ways to either hurt or help me?
What are you looking for?
Desiring:
Do you desire pleasure?
Do you desire revulsion? Is this to counteract your unconscious enjoyment?
What do you want from this experience?
Me:
How well do you think you know me? Have we ever met?
Do you think I'm the perfect victim or the world's worst victim?
Do you refuse to see me as either a human being or a victim? If so,
why? Is it to deny me agency and thus further victimize me? If so, what do
you think of the fact that you owe your ability to do so to me, since I'm
the one who took a risk and made myself vulnerable in the first place?
Do you hate me? If so, how does it feel to hate me?

http://www.cecinestpasunviol.com/