Peter Clough
Exaltation of the Porous Body
April 23 - May 21, 2022​

The exhibition is centered around a two-channel narrative video work titled On the Erotics of Stuffing Large Objects into Small Spaces. The video is a meditation on a variety of Clough’s lifestyle practices that center around using devices or “toys” to control his experiences of space and time, including his long-term wear of a chastity cage, his daily use of butt plugs, and frequent sessions spent locked in a small cage. As a person standing six feet and six inches tall, Clough has always had a sensitivity to the uncommon dimensions of his own body. This work explores the unique experiences of space and time gleaned from the world of BDSM, and the solace Clough finds in experiences that push the boundaries of comfort and consciousness. And it explores the ways that using objects to regulate the body’s processes, focusing on the body’s holes and gaps, can address complex issues like subjecthood and gender identity.

The exhibition also features a new series of single-channel videos on monitors that function more like moving photographs. These works are silent and still, and many are shot in slow-motion as a way to situate them between the narrative and the photographic. Each is a meditation on a single practice or body part, and together they present a rich and multifaceted account of Clough’s own bodily experiences.

Special thanks to Patrick McNabb and Brandon Blackwell for their support in realizing this exhibition.