Last month, Emma Sulkowicz walked in Columbia University’s graduation ceremony carrying the same mattress she lifted all year as part of her widely publicized, and school-sanctioned, art project called Mattress Performance (Carry That Weight). As ArtNet reported, Sulkowicz has released a new, graphic video project titled Ceci N’est Pas Un Viol, French for “This Is Not a Rape.”
The piece (which cannot be embedded, only viewed on the project’s website) was filmed over winter break during her senior year, some months after accusing fellow Columbia student Paul Nungesser of raping her in 2012 and first carrying the mattress. The graphic video stars Sulkowicz and an unknown actor engaging in consensual sex that becomes violent, which may be difficult for some people to view.
But as Sulkowicz writes in a statement on the project’s website, the video is not a reenactment: “Ceci N’est Pas Un Viol is not about one night in August, 2012. It’s about your decisions, starting now. It’s only a reenactment if you disregard my words. It’s about you, not him.”
Sulkowicz encourages those viewing without her consent to “reflect on your reasons for objectifying me and participating in my rape, for, in that case, you were the one who couldn’t resist the urge to make Ceci N’est Pas Un Viol about what you wanted to make it about: rape.” She also includes a series of questions to guide these reflections, including “Are you searching for proof? Proof of what?” “Do you think I’m the perfect victim or the world’s worst victim?” “Do you hate me? If so, how does it feel to hate me?
Unsurprisingly, the website has already amassed a lively comments section, with some taking Sulkowicz’s reflective questions to task and others disclosing their true motives for watching (i.e. “Thanks, just jacked off.”) Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, who brought Sulkowicz as a guest to January’s State of the Union address, encouraged the artist to “Keep looking out for young women the world over,” and stated “I can’t wait to show this video to President Obama tomorrow!”
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Text Emily Manning