PRESS RELEASE

The exhibition The Convent of Pleasure-Ticking Time by Ani Schulze features Episode 7: At One Go (2024) and Episode 1: The Beginning (2023) from her ongoing video series The Convent of Pleasure. alongside new paintings and architectural elements. The series. designed as a soap opera. is inspired by Margaret Cavendish’s 1668 comedy The Convent of Pleasure, in which a group of warnen decide to form a community without men-the titular convent. In her video series. Schulze draws on both fictional and real female figures-primarily artists- and develops hybrid characters and surreal narrative fragments.
While Episode 1: The Beginning focuses on the founding of the convent, Episode 7: At One Go teils a story about exclusion from the community. Chronologically, the second part is placed as Episode 7 in the narrative. In this video work, filmed in Buenos Aires and Porto, the convent initially seems well-established. portrayed as both airy and mighty. However, this impression is disrupted right from the start by a zooming, clicking camera movement under green light, creating a deceptive feeling reminiscent of urban surveillance systems. The atmosphere evo­kes the structure of reality TV shows-a staged environment where observation and judgement become integral to the enter­tainment. Much like the Big Brother format-with the Argentinian version. Gran Hermano. ranking as one of the country’s most popular TV shows in 2024-the participants are subject to con­stant surveillance.
The title At One Go alludes to the fast-paced and arbitrary nature of games where decisions are made quickly. Everything re­volves around the eviction of the residents. which is heightened by the playful staging. further enhanced by vivid colours. The process of exclusion is triggered by children’s rhymes, whose rhythm and tone create an eerie blend of innocence, menace, and uncertainty.

„lp dip doo
The cat got the flu.
The donkey got the chickenpox. So out goes you.“

lt remains ambiguous whether the threat comes from within or outside the community. The Nereid Fountain by Argentinian artist Lola Mora (1866-1936) also features as an (excluded) character in the new series. Mora originally created this sculpture in 1903 for the Plaza de Mayo in the centre of Buenos Aires. However, controversy arose-the naked bodies of the sea nymphs and Tritons were deemed inappropriate, and the artwork was subsequently banished to the outskirts of the city.
The Convent of Pleasure -Ticking Time unfolds as an immer­sive installation in which reality and fiction blend seamlessly, creating a dreamlike. otherworldly vision. The video works are structured as cinematic collages, merging non-linear actions into fragmented and contradictory elements. The exhibition reflects on current global dynamics of exclusion, whether between or within societies. and the arbitrary nature of these processes. The installation fuses humour with brutality. as the boundaries of control. play. and exclusion continuously shift.