Close encounters

Melanie Manchot is a German artist who lives in London. The first programme looks at her collection of kisses; the final programme features the nude photographs she has taken of her ageing mother.

Why do you think we are disgusted by things?

I see it coming from two sources. The first is from this sense of distaste which we have, the need to protect ourselves and avoid bodily harm. But I also think it is socially and culturally constructed. Certain issues and experiences are considered to be disgusting. I think this is closely linked to our sense of space, and someone invading that space.

Can you explain how you use your work to address theories of disgust?

My work about kissing addresses the idea of someone invading our space. People have a private bubble around them, even in highly populated public environments. When you are approached in that situation, you have to transgress that private bubble. To me the project is about intimacy and spatial awareness.

What emotions does your work provoke?

People's reactions to seeing the work are quite emotional. The work puts them in the position of the person who is being asked to kiss a stranger. They have to ask themselves how they would react. But because the camera is on me, they also find themselves in my position. They have the feeling of being the one on the street, feeling insecure about who to approach and how to approach them.

I have done the work in many large cities, including Los Angeles and New York, so there is also a sense of danger. Sometimes the people I ask to kiss me are amused but some get quite angry. They think I am some loony. Kissing is such an intense contact — there is a sense of contamination when you kiss a stranger.

I think that the kissing work is interesting because we kiss for so many different reasons in different ways. A kiss can be a sexual exchange but it can be something quite different.

In Europe, kissing in day-to-day life is more commonplace than it is in Britain or the United States. Do people from different cultures respond differently to being asked for a kiss?

Definitely. In Britain, people respond abruptly: no, I can't do that. In the United States, they are more likely to say that they can't do it because they are uncomfortable with it. In Europe, people tend to be less shocked. They often say no, but they are more curious about the project.

The fear of contamination is strongest in America. The reactions there were the most extreme and verbal.

You have also addressed the issue of disgust and age in a series of photographs taken of your mother.

In the most recent series of photographs, my mother is pictured from head to waist, naked, but in seemingly unlikely — and public — backgrounds. In front of a lake; in the mountains; in front of the Millennium Wheel. The photographs are taken in such a way that it looks as though my mother is standing there naked in the middle of the street. In fact, she is protected, but the way the photographs are taken does not reveal that.

Once again this addresses the public/private moment. If something is out of place, that produces sensations of: 'How can this be?'

The pictures of my mother evoke the idea of the body becoming threatening. Because she is an older woman, her body has ceased to be representable. Again, the work produces extreme reactions. Some people think it is beautiful, some say it is obscene or pornographic.

We don't want to think about our bodies getting older, not behaving the way they should. We use all the tools available to us — silicone, cosmetic surgery — to try and prevent this from happening.

I think this relates closely to the idea that the ultimate agent in producing disgust is death. The ageing body reminds us that we are disintegrating, literally falling apart.

How do you think that art relates to disgust?

Art brings up issues we find it hard to deal with. Disgust is talked about a lot less than other emotions. Artists quite often seek to address issues which are at the forefront of our lives but which are not addressed very often.

Some artists may use disgust strategically, to produce a moment of shock which makes you engage with their work. This can be a tool to make you look at the work.

But shock tactics aside, I think art can address issues quite poignantly, in a non-judgemental way. Art in a wider sense — including poetry, writing and film — can express whole bundles of emotions in a precise way. It can express what is on people's minds.

Melanie Manchot is represented by the Rhodes + Mann Gallery, 37 Hackney Road, London E2 7NX. Tel: 020 7729 4372. Website: www.rhodesmann.com.

Poster project, South Kensington 1998

Melanie Manchot in front of a photograph of her mother

Melanie Manchot's mother sitting in profile, silver gelatin on canvas 1997