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Take Off

Susan Mogul

1974 00:10:30 United StatesEnglishB&WMono4:31/2" open reel video

Description

"I made Take Off in my studio apartment on Myra Avenue during my second year living in Los Angeles. As a member of the Feminist Studio Workshop, I was writing an essay at the time comparing male artists’ representations of their sexuality with female artists’. Vito Acconci was my model for a male perspective. I had been captivated by his videotapes; particularly Undertone, where he was supposed to be masturbating while seated at a table. The videotape was my ultimate response and commentary on Acconci as well as an expression of my own sexuality."

— Susan Mogul

"In a very literal way, Mogul takes to task the whole notion of the male artist’s body as a text of creativity which can be read through its activities and gestures. With a good deal of ironic humor, she transforms the 'girl' into a woman and an artist, who positions herself not under the table (as in Acconci’s Undertone) but directly across from the viewer; alternately discussing the 'history' of her vibrator and occasionally using it."

— Joseph Di Mattia

This title is also available on I Say I Am: Program 2.

About Susan Mogul

Since 1973 artist and filmmaker Susan Mogul has developed a body of work that is autobiographical, diaristic, and ethnographic. Her work addresses the human dilemma of self in relationship to family, community and the culture at large. Mogul’s videos of the early 1970s, as well as her recent documentaries, are often featured in exhibitions, publications, and college courses that examine the histories of video art, feminist art, and contemporary documentary.

“The conflict in forging one’s own identity in relation to a group — be it family or the culture at large — has been an underlying theme in my work. I was revealing attempts to define my self-image through humorous autobiographical anecdotes. In them I measured myself against influential role models.” 
— Susan Mogul