Peter Land is an emerging Danish artist who lives and works in London. In his videos, Land places himself in difficult and often embarrassing situations to evoke issues of self-abasement with a humor that combines irony and slapstick. The MCA will present his 1995 work Step Ladder Blues, which features the artist, dressed as a house painter, repeatedly falling in slow motion from a step ladder to the strains of Wagner’s Tannhäuser Overture. Land’s work juxtaposes the bold and triumphant music with the clumsy actions of the painter to poke fun at the romantic idea of the artist as a heroic figure. The work also suggests the numerous “falls” of humans throughout history.

This video project is organized by MCA Assistant Curator Dominic Molon.