Xavier Cha: abduct
Published by moCa Cleveland, 2016

Texts and contributions by Xavier Cha, Rose Bouthillier, Lauren Wetmore and Lauren Cornell
Edited by Rose Bouthillier
Designed by Ryland Wharton / The Work We Do

Xavier Cha works in performance, video, and multi-media installation, always with a human focus. In various forms—live and recorded, choreographed and chaotic—her projects concern the ever-evolving ways in which we compose and communicate our selves.

In the video work abduct (2015), Cha pushes these investigations into cinematic territory, exploring the ways in which our minds, bodies, and images are “taken.” Opening with a soft haze, a young man comes into view, clothed in white undergarments and standing in a brightly lit plastic chamber. He appears euphoric, but also seems confused by his pleasure; the subtle movements of his eyes and mouth softly impart relief and terror. A total of seven men and women are successively pictured alone in this ambiguous space, all with intense, conflicting emotions passing through them. As Cha describes, these feelings “are like foreign agents battling for dominance over the vessel of the face,” at times thrown off with a shudder, at others slowly dissipating.

This publication explores abduct in the wider context of Cha’s practice. Texts include an essay by Rose Bouthillier, an experimental text by Lauren Wetmore, and an interview between Cha and Lauren Cornell.

ISBN 978-0-9899550-7-2
Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland