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As an artist and researcher, Bethany Crawford (1988) is interested in pleasure as a transformative and political force. This also finds expression in her absurdist video work Love is in the Ear; or, loving you is easy because you’re also me (2025), a story about a man whose ears are falling in love with each other. At the beginning of the video, the man is a stereotypical white, middle aged male who is stuck in a boring office job. But then the infatuation between his ears causes an erotic, sensual awakening. His view of the world and his surroundings is turned upside down as he suddenly experiences it as dynamic, erotic, and interconnected.
Crawford uses images and sounds to make the transformation of her character relatable. The collage of images follows the gradual changes in the main character and his environment, with the man’s features, for instance, morphing into those of other people, animals, objects, and landscapes. The video’s sound design is relatively realistic to begin with, but little by little becomes more sensual, physical, and absurdist. An example of this is the ticking of a clock turning into the sound of blowing kisses.
To Crawford pleasure is a deeply political concept. She finds inspiration in feminist and queer theories based on the premise that those who open themselves to pleasure, will in fact also be open to the feeling of being a part of a larger whole. This experience of being connected sharply contrasts with the excessive individualism of capitalism, thus sowing a seed of change.
Text: Sarah van Binsbergen
Translated from Dutch by Marie Louise Schoondergang (The Art of Translation)