Necking  1997

​PAL, 16:9, colour, mono
Duration: 1.40”

Necking was filmed in a school gymnasium and shows a group of young women playing a game called ‘passing the apple’. The self-consciousness of the female participants overshadows the pleasure of physical interaction and signals sexual awareness. 

“Over the last few years, Monika Oechsler has made a number of video works which explore the dynamics of group behaviour (especially between adolescent girls). In this charming and engaging tape, a traditional playground game becomes a site of contradictory emotions, confronting individual identity and peer interaction, shyness and sexuality.”
(Extract from the UK/NY brochure , published by Film and Video Umbrella, London)

Necking was distributed by the Film and Video Umbrella, London as part of a program of video works by British and American artists entitled NY/UK and was shown among other venues at the ICA Gallery, Tate Gallery, London, MOMA, New York 1998, at Fourth Wall, curated by the PADT at the Royal National Theatre, London 1999 and in a touring programme in South-America organised by The British Council in 2000.

Installation view: Screening at the NFT organised by the PADT (Public Art Development Trust).