The Empowering Pose 01: Rude Receptionist is the start of a series of sculptures using poses to empower humans through simple stances. We are in an entrance hall. We find the receptionist table. But the receptionist is missing. How to identify a receptionist table by three simple characteristics:
1. The height of 115cm.
2. A small shelf to place your bag while waiting.
3. The back of the desk is open.
We start to observe the scenario and find the cast of her body sitting on the table. By this single action of leaving the chair and climbing on the table the receptionist has moved out of her role of being the perfect host. The sculpture serves as an activation tool to trigger their imagination. By seeing the negative cast we can imagine ourselves or the absent receptionist sitting on the table.
We will find a poem. Using short hand writing; the action becomes encrypted; the inner life of the receptionist remains private – thinking about it as the secret language of secretaries back in the days. She might have been thinking about starting a silent revolution by using short hand writing that can only be read by her female colleagues.
Lena Marie Emrich (* 1991, Göttingen) lives and works in Berlin. Her diverse practice combines sculpture, performance and the use of digitally related tools such as social platforms or found footage. Inspired by absurd interruptions of everyday rituals and the observation of social phenomena, she takes advantage of the historical and architectural circumstances of given spaces.