![Bridget Baker (BB) Mitten Project](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nathanielstern.com\/blog\/wp-content\/BBmittens.jpg?w=850\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
To exactly quote Bridget Baker’s artist statement<\/b>:<\/p>\n
The Official BB Mittens Project is the third in the series of \u2019\u00c4\u00faOfficial BB Projects\u2019\u00c4\u00f9, declarations on life according to \u2019\u00c4\u00faOfficial BB\u2019\u00c4\u00f9 wisdom. In all these projects Bridget actively cajoles her audience to take part beyond their own reason, where personal understanding is often consolidated through spontaneous action.<\/p>\n
This Project was first performed in Cape Town in 2003 as an action for Gallery Puta\u2019\u00c4\u00f4s first curated show. In 2005 Baker performed the project at Liste \u2019\u00c4\u00f405 in Basel and in Bielefeld in Germany at 20+ (an Artists Unlimited group exhibition).<\/p>\n
In this project, Bridget performs as a clandestine soothsayer: weary of her audience, while simultaneously offering treatment and pampering. This project begins at one circular hole in a wall, cut at waist height. Plastic camping watercontainers and an inscribed towel are the only other items in the room.<\/p>\n
Inscribed in pencil on either side of the holes are a set of \u2019\u00c4\u00faOfficial BB\u2019\u00c4\u00f9 rules, instructions inviting Baker\u2019\u00c4\u00f4s audience to unwittingly trust her by putting a hand through the hole, thereby embarking on a regime of intimate processes that ultimately lead to the participants enjoying physical pleasure. Once the participants have removed their jewellery and washed their hands, they insert their hands into the holes. Baker, hidden on the other side of the wall, then subjects her participants hands to a therapeutic hot wax treatment, finally gloving the wax covered hands in \u2019\u00c4\u00faOfficial BB Project\u2019\u00c4\u00f9 trademark mittens that have been specially hand knitted. The BB mittens are applied as a catalyst to complete the action and at the same time advertise the BB brand. The participants are then free to interact with other participants in the room while the wax treatment takes effect. After about ten minutes the participants return to the holes in order to get the wax and mittens removed.<\/p>\n
The participants leave the room rewarded with pampered hands.<\/p>\n
According to BB wisdom: In life as in art rules are set and when followed explicitly an unexpected amount of pleasure is derived.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
To exactly quote Bridget Baker’s artist statement: The Official BB Mittens Project is the third in the series of \u2019\u00c4\u00faOfficial BB Projects\u2019\u00c4\u00f9, declarations on life according to \u2019\u00c4\u00faOfficial BB\u2019\u00c4\u00f9 wisdom. In all these projects Bridget actively cajoles her audience to take part beyond their own reason, where personal understanding is often consolidated through spontaneous action. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[6,9,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-765","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-art","category-pop-culture","category-south-african-art"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9blZT-cl","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1105,"url":"https:\/\/nathanielstern.com\/blog\/2006\/03\/05\/bridget-baker-provocateur-of-poise\/","url_meta":{"origin":765,"position":0},"title":"Bridget Baker: provocateur of poise","author":"nathaniel","date":"05 March 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"I've actually not seen Bridget Baker's latest show (in Cape Town - see that Joao Ferreira link for images), but I really like BB as a person, and if the raves between her Mail and Guardian review and Artthrob review are any indication, she's really on a roll with her\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "art"","block_context":{"text":"art","link":"https:\/\/nathanielstern.com\/blog\/category\/art\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":324,"url":"https:\/\/nathanielstern.com\/blog\/2004\/04\/19\/eat-etc\/","url_meta":{"origin":765,"position":1},"title":"eat, etc","author":"nathaniel","date":"19 April 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"What a week! I like to think that my opening at outlet last Wednesday was pretty successful - there was a very nice Joburg\/Pretoria mixed crowd, and so far, there seems to be interest from 3 parties in purchasing the limited edition DVD (out of 5). I'd appreciate any feedback\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "me"","block_context":{"text":"me","link":"https:\/\/nathanielstern.com\/blog\/category\/me\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1599,"url":"https:\/\/nathanielstern.com\/blog\/2008\/03\/18\/data-28-charlie-von-metzradt-michael-szpakowski-joan-healy-and-sven-anderson\/","url_meta":{"origin":765,"position":2},"title":"DATA 28: Charlie von Metzradt, Michael Szpakowski, Joan Healy and Sven Anderson","author":"nathaniel","date":"18 March 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Last Thursday saw DATA - the Dublin Art and Technology Association - # 28 at our temporary venue, Dublin's Science Gallery. It was a great and energetic night with a diverse crowd and lots of dialogue, plus a few beers afterwards just down the road. Thanks to everyone for coming!\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "art"","block_context":{"text":"art","link":"https:\/\/nathanielstern.com\/blog\/category\/art\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":478,"url":"https:\/\/nathanielstern.com\/blog\/2004\/10\/20\/as-the-dust-settles\/","url_meta":{"origin":765,"position":3},"title":"as the dust settles….","author":"nathaniel","date":"20 October 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"And not too far into the shadow of the deserving winners @ the Brett Kebble Art Awards, but indeed after the some of the heartwarming stories, there is a fantastic exhibition of contemporary South African art. Honestly, the BK exhibition has to be the most comprehensive, well curated, and interesting\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "south african art"","block_context":{"text":"south african art","link":"https:\/\/nathanielstern.com\/blog\/category\/south-african-art\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":575,"url":"https:\/\/nathanielstern.com\/blog\/2005\/03\/25\/internet-cafe\/","url_meta":{"origin":765,"position":4},"title":"internet cafe","author":"nathaniel","date":"25 March 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"spending rands and sans pictures on this machine, i just wanted to check in and say hi. minette vari is prolific with her media (video, mostly), philip rikhotso (sp?) rocks, and actually, the fine art in general is very worth seeing. hannes olivier, ralph borland, bridget baker and nicholas hlobo\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "art"","block_context":{"text":"art","link":"https:\/\/nathanielstern.com\/blog\/category\/art\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1328,"url":"https:\/\/nathanielstern.com\/blog\/2006\/09\/19\/the-collision-project\/","url_meta":{"origin":765,"position":5},"title":"The Collision Project","author":"nathaniel","date":"19 September 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"The Collision Project is the result of a collaborative exchange between artist \/ director Gerhard Marx and composer Clare Loveday, lecturers at the Wits School of Arts. It combines the visual and theatrical skills of Marx with the compositional exploration of Loveday to create a haunting work that is both\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "art"","block_context":{"text":"art","link":"https:\/\/nathanielstern.com\/blog\/category\/art\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"the collision project - marx and loveday","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nathanielstern.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/09\/clip_image002.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nathanielstern.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/765","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nathanielstern.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nathanielstern.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nathanielstern.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nathanielstern.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=765"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nathanielstern.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/765\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nathanielstern.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=765"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nathanielstern.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=765"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nathanielstern.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=765"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}