At Dazibao’s invitation, Isabelle Pauwels produced a substantially revised version of If it Bleeds, a work produced in 2018, that further pushes its limits and, in some ways, transposes, even exacerbates, the original video’s structure and motifs within the physical space of the gallery. Read more
“Inspired by events in the world of Mixed Martial Arts, If it Bleeds can’t — or won’t — tell the difference between real fighting and fake fighting. Good actor or bad liar? Showman or sportsman? Bleeding, sweating, flopping, maybe crying, denying and/or testifying, winning or learning, faking, praying — give me some bluff with that — it’s just another body ripening in the spotlight, sustained by the fiction that everything happens ‘for a reason.’ Perfect? No. Undefeated? Yes!”
— Isabelle Pauwels
